Out of the Labyrinth
by artemis lecter
Summary: Sarah must go back to the labyrinth to compete against a jealous Jareth. The price? She must rule his kingdom if she fails. Bad summary, my apologies.
1. Dates and Cheerios

Disclaimer: I own absolutely NO part of 'Labyrinth'. Please don't sue me.

Alright, everyone. This is a re-release of the original "Out of the Labyrinth"; hopefully, many errors, both in grammar and storyline, have been corrected. Please review and let me know what you think!

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CHAPTER ONE: Dates and Cheerios

"Toby, can't I turn my back for two seconds- two seconds! - without you making a mess or destroying something?" Sarah asked, exasperated. The toddler giggled amid the mess of milk and cheerios that he had managed to throw around his chair, landing some on himself, the countertop, and, somehow, the ceiling. Sarah had looked away only to answer the telephone, had engaged in a thirty-second conversation, and had returned to the kitchen to find this mess. You had to love Saturday mornings.

"Sorry," Toby said, speech slightly slurred, as a toddler's would be.

Sarah looked over at the toddler in his booster seat and rolled her eyes, her angry expression and resolve completely melting away. She found it extremely difficult to remain upset with him for very long.

For the last two years, Sarah's father and stepmother had wondered if she had completely lost it. The old Sarah had never been nice to her younger brother. It had taken Sarah a month to convince her parents that she wasn't on drugs and hadn't been abducted by aliens and replaced with a nicer, more civil version. Sarah 2.0, as her father sometimes jokingly called her, never minded staying home with Toby. In fact, she enjoyed it, and often encouraged her parents to go out. Her parents didn't complain; they were impressed at how Sarah had grown up. Fortunately for Sarah, they didn't know what had caused this sudden change in her feelings for Toby. Her trip into the Labyrinth, coupled with two years of gaining wisdom and maturity, had drastically improved Sarah's attitude.

As she was cleaning up the heart-healthy mess upon the floor, Sarah heard Hoggle walk into the kitchen. Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo had been spending just about every day with her, arriving shortly after she got home from school and leaving before her father and stepmother got home. Their timing had gotten to be very precise, and her parents were none the wiser.

"Did it again, did he?" Hoggle grunted, noting the mess on the floor. As Sarah nodded, Hoggle shook his head and tutted. He didn't care very much for babies, though he and Toby had learned to coexist harmoniously. Sarah knew he went out of his way to be nice to Toby because of her, something she was grateful for. Besides, they'd be good friends eventually… just as soon as Toby stopped drooling and throwing food around.

"Who was that on the phone, anyhow?" Hoggle asked, sidestepping the cereal.

Sarah tried to suppress a grin, to no avail. "Mark," she said, blushing slightly. "He's going to pick me up at eight tonight."

Sarah had had a bit of a crush on Mark for the last year or so, and he had finally asked her out a month or so ago. Sarah had happily accepted, elated that Mark had asked her out to dinner at last—and also glad that she had another guy to keep her mind off other things.

Since she had returned from the Labyrinth, its ruler had been plaguing her thoughts almost constantly. She was still very angry at Jareth for what he put her through, although she was a little glad that she had gone to the Labyrinth; if she hadn't she never would have been able to get along with Toby, and they would probably still be fighting. But all the same, she had come very close to losing Toby that day. And although she refused to admit it—to anyone other than herself, at least – she was afraid of him. _Who am I kidding? _She thought to herself. _He scares the hell out of me._

Breaking out of her reverie, Sarah finished cleaning up the cereal. Looking around, she realized something was missing.

"Where are Ludo and Didymus?" she asked Hoggle, who had helped himself to the orange juice in her refrigerator, drinking it straight out of the carton.

"Didymus has the flu," Hoggle said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and replacing the juice. "Ludo decided to stay and keep him company. They told me to say hi to you, by the way." He grinned.

Sarah smiled back', then frowned slightly. "Won't Ludo get sick, too?"

Hoggle shook his head. "He seems to be immune to diseases," he said. Sarah raised her eyebrows, then shrugged. Stranger things had happened.

"I wasn't aware that having the Flu in the Underground was even possible. I thought it was a human thing."

Hoggle rolled his eyes, though Sarah knew he was only teasing her. "Humans. Think everything's about them." Sarah let this slide.

"Looks like it's just you and me, then." She wasn't about to complain; she loved Ludo and Didymus, but it was rare that she ever got to spend time with Hoggle all by himself. "What do you want to do today?"

Hoggle gave Sarah a sour look. "Anything but Scrabble."

Sarah laughed. She had to agree—Didymus practically demanded that they play Scrabble nearly every day.

"Okay. I'll go wash Toby up and we'll figure out something to do."

Lifting Toby out of his high-chair, Sarah headed up the stairs, grabbing a towel out of the hall linen closet on the way. As she turned on the water, she smiled. Today was going to be another good day.

-13 HOURS LATER-

Sitting on the windowsill, the king of the goblins gazed down at his kingdom, impressed with how it had turned out over the last few decades. He often felt that the view of the Labyrinth and the city calmed him, and allowed him to think freely. Tonight, he let his thoughts wander Aboveground, to Sarah.

It had been two years, thirteen days since he had last seen Sarah in person— the day she had defeated the Labyrinth. The goblins in the Underground remembered that day like Americans remembered Pearl Harbor: no human had ever beaten the labyrinth. Jareth recalled that day for an entirely different reason; no human had ever driven him crazy the way Sarah had.

Jareth still checked up on Sarah periodically, by way of his crystals. She had gone from being an ignorant sixteen-year-old brat to an eighteen-year-old woman, and had still remained just as brave, smart, and beautiful, if not more so. He had watched her mature, and liked to think that her newfound kindness toward her brother was his doing.

It had not been easy, keeping his obsession with Sarah a secret; the castle, although it was the largest in the Underground, was not very big, and he was constantly surrounded by goblins, who had not failed to notice that their king had changed, become more distant, in the last few years. It was very important that the goblins did not discover that he was infatuated with a human girl; many of the goblins thought that being with someone who was not of your own race was disgraceful, and it was likely a civil war would break out. He had enough problems as it was.

He had neglected to check up on Sarah in the last week or so, due to the small group of goblins who had rebelled against their king. As miniscule a group as they were, many of the goblins leading the pack had been smart, cunning, and daring. Jareth had had a somewhat difficult time regaining control over his kingdom. A civil war had ensued, and goblins loyal to the king had finally overcome the rebels, though not without losses. The battle had destroyed the goblin city. Jareth had spent the last week restoring it—it had taken a long time even with his magical gifts. It looked as good as new now, and he finally had a moment to spare.

Summoning up a crystal from thin air, Jareth peered into it. _Ah . . . there she is._

Sarah looked quite stunning, wearing a short red dress, with her hair pulled away from her face in a clip. Jareth could see that she had applied the tiniest hint of makeup. Gorgeous though she was, Jareth wondered what the occasion was. Sarah hardly ever wore anything but jeans, having all but given up acting in favor of more reasonable things.

Growing curious, Jareth stared more intently at the crystal. Sarah was walking up the sidewalk to her house. Jareth could now see a black-haired boy of about the same age as Sarah following her. Dread hit the goblin king like a bucket of ice-cold water as he realized what was happening. He forced himself to watch, however, as the boy and Sarah arrived at the doorstep.

"Goodnight, Mark. Thanks for dinner," Sarah said. The boy nodded and stepped closer to Sarah.

Jareth watched them kiss in horror, and he felt his blood begin to boil over. He felt nauseated, horrified . . . and furious.

Jareth clenched his fists together so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and he began to shake uncontrollably. Hardly realizing what he was doing, Jareth changed his human-like form into that of an owl and glided silently out the window.


	2. Admitting

Disclaimer: Again, I own nothing.

CHAPTER TWO: Admitting

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Sarah allowed Mark to kiss her briefly before pulling away. She looked back at him and smiled shyly. She had had a really good time with him; they had gone to dinner at a nice restaurant (Mark had a ton of money, though he didn't gloat about it) and just talked for a while about various subjects: movies they liked and hated, school, and books—especially books. She found that they didn't have much in common; Mark was a sci-fi fan, whereas she loved fantasy, and he loved horror films, which she detested. But she found that these differences only made him more interesting.

Mark stepped back to look at her, smiling in return.

"So Sarah, do you want to do this again some ti—" he said, breaking off when he heard Sarah gasp loudly.

"What?" Mark asked, confused. He whipped around to look where Sarah was staring.

A very blond man stood behind Mark, glaring at him lividly. Mark looked him up and down. He had weird clothing, and blue in his hair, for God's sake! And he was wearing heels! Overall, Mark thought that his appearance was better than the odd man's. But the newcomer looked scary as hell—he looked as though he was about ready to haul off and punch him.

"Whoa," Mark said, backing away from the tall blond man. "Where did you come from?"

Jareth looked Mark over, his lip curling in disgust. He supposed the boy looked decent enough, as far as human fashion went, but the child looked stupid and ignorant. _This is what Sarah is interested in? _Jareth didn't think he would have too much trouble, if **this **was the competition.

Mark looked over at Sarah, trying to figure out her expression. She seemed to know the weird guy, although she didn't look too pleased about seeing him. Thoroughly freaked out, he decided it was about time to go.

"Yeah, y'know, Sarah . . . I'm gonna bail. Gotta get up early." Mark had already started backing away.

_On a Sunday?_ Sarah thought. _He's ditching me. _She let him go, seeing that he was scared (not that she had much of a choice; he was already halfway to the car by the time she could answer).

Sarah peeled her eyes away from the shiny new Volkswagon that was speeding out of her driveway and looked instead at the man in front of her. Although she was slightly nervous, she was more annoyed about the fact that he had just ruined her date. Jareth had still not said a word, although his face had retained its furious expression. He looked absolutely terrifying.

She cleared her throat. "What are you doing here?" she asked Jareth shakily. She inwardly scolded herself for allowing her fear to show. _No need to give him any more ammunition._

"Known him long?" Jareth asked, completely ignoring her question. He was torn between emotions; half of him wanted to pull Sarah to his chest and be happy that he was able to be in her presence again, while the other half wanted to scream at her for being so blind and then run of after the intellectually challenged wanker that had been kissing her and rip his head clean off his shoulders. He chose to stay where he was, fists clenched tightly and eyes looking more glacial than usual.

"About a year," Sarah shrugged. _Why does he care about that?_ she wondered. It made no sense to her as to why he should suddenly care about her choice of boyfriends.

Jareth fought with himself to remain calm. He was certain it had been their first date; he would have noticed if it had been more. Still, just to be sure . . .

"Do you love him?"

Sarah blinked, taken aback by this. "I, uh . . . don't know. He's. . . . nice, I guess." They had only been on one date, and she was just finishing high school, for Christ's sake. How was she supposed to know?

Internally, Jareth breathed a sigh of relief, though his facial expression remained annoyed.

Sarah was still puzzled as to why Jareth would care about her relationship with Mark. An idea struck her that was so absurd, so funny, that she actually laughed aloud. Jareth looked at her questioningly. _Has she completely lost her mind?_

"And what, may I ask, is so humorous?" Jareth asked, agitated. _She's gorgeous when she laughs_. He mentally kicked himself, forcing himself to focus on the matter at hand.

Sarah giggled for a few more seconds, attempting to regain her composure and keep a straight face. "You know," she said, laughter still evident in her voice, "you sound jealous." The absurdity of this statement sent her into another fit of giggles. _Jareth, the king of the goblins, jealous of an eighteen-year-old human boy?_

Jareth looked down at the ground. He could think of nothing to say, because what she had written off as ridiculous had been entirely true.

Sarah noticed his silence, and as she studied his face another thought struck her. She gasped, and Jareth looked up at her. Sarah saw everything in his eyes. She shook her head violently, as if doing so could get the notion out of her head. It was absolutely insane.

"No. No **way**," she half-whispered. Jareth looked at her defiantly.

"I love you," he said simply. He could see the color drain from her face as she absorbed this knowledge. Jareth refused to look away- refused to make it easier for her. At the same time, he tried not to let his emotions show on his face. It would kill him if, after two long years of trying to work up the courage to tell her, she rejected him a second time.

Horror washed over Sarah like a huge wave, dragging her under. How in the hell could he possibly be in love with her? She struggled to understand. Had he given her any clue? Was she completely oblivious?

"No way," she repeated.

Jareth felt himself becoming simultaneously angrier and more heartbroken. He was completely in love with this woman, and she had now rejected him—again! He'd had enough. Furious, he stared her down, eyes cold and mouth thin. He positively shook with rage.

"Yes. And sadly, Sarah, I will not give you a choice in the matter this time."

Jareth grabbed her upper arm and they vanished from the front porch.


	3. Bargaining

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

CHAPTER THREE: Bargaining

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Sarah looked around her, panicking, She realized immediately that she was no longer in front of her house (unless her parents had recently put in a throne room). She was afraid- terrified, really - but her fear melted into anger very quickly. Jareth, seeing this, braced himself.

"Are you kidding me? What the hell is **wrong** with you?" Sarah exploded. Jareth flinched; he had been afraid of this. Her rage really was something to behold. Sarah glared at him.

"You are out of your damn mind if you think you can keep me here. Take me back **now**," Sarah hissed. He had some real audacity, dragging her here. Who the hell did he think he was?

Jarethforced himself to remain calm, though he was seething. Who was she to tell him what to do? He was the goblin king—something he had worked hard at—and he sure as hell wasn't going to let some girl throwing a temper tantrum instruct him in his own castle. _But_ _losing your temper won't do anything to help_, he thought. He took a deep breath.

Grinding his teeth in an attempt to remain somewhat calm, he spoke to Sarah very slowly, enunciating every syllable. "Not until you've heard me out."

"There's nothing to say, because it's not possible for you to . . . feel that way about me!" Her cheeks burned red just by the words.

Jareth's eyes burned into her. "You honestly think I haven't tried not to? I have, Sarah, believe me. There's nothing either one of us can do about this. I've been in love with you for quite a few years now, and I'm telling you now I have no intention of letting you escape from me again."

Sarah turned away from Jareth, trying to avoid his eyes. "I won't listen to this," she muttered under her breath. "This is insanity."

Jareth stepped in front of Sarah and grabbed her shoulders tightly, so she couldn't turn away from him. He looked her in the eyes, and Sarah found herself unable to look away from his mismatched ones.

"Please, Sarah," he begged, "just give me a chance." Sarah saw his sincerity. He really meant it.

"I-I can't," she stammered. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"And why is that, pray tell?"

Sarah sighed. "What is it you want from me, hm? I could never trust you. If I recall correctly, you were the one who took my baby brother away, remember?" The memory of this still stung.

Jareth groaned inwardly. He knew that was going to come up sooner or later.

"If memory serves, Sarah, you were the one who wished your brother away in the first place," he pointed out. Sarah groaned in frustration. _Sure, bring __**that**__ up._

An idea came to Jareth. It was risky as hell, and he would probably regret it, but he was desperate at this point. And it felt good to fall back on something that was familiar, something that he had been doing for a long time.

"Alright. How's this," he said. "We'll make a deal."

Sarah looked suspicious, yet interested. Jareth continued.

"If you can find your way out of the Labyrinth in thirteen hours, you may go home. I will let you leave, and I will never trouble you again." Jareth willed himself not to think about how utterly meaningless his existence would be if that were to happen. He never said this bargain would come without a price. Then again, he could always try to persuade her to stay later… this gave him thirteen extra hours of thinking time.

"The consequence for you being unable to do so," he continued, "is very high for you, however."

Sarah raised her eyebrows. "And this price is . . .?"

He looked at Sarah as if this were incredibly obvious. "You shall remain here with me . . . for the rest of my reign as king in the Underground. You will marry me and rule with me as my queen."

Sarah's eyebrows shot up. _Marry him?_ She thought it over. It definitely wasn't something she wanted to do; the thought of her being stuck with the arrogant pampered king was enough to turn her stomach. But that was a pretty good offer, if she won. She had beaten the Labyrinth before; she could do it again easily enough. But if she lost . . .

Jareth seemed to read her thoughts. "I should warn you before you accept: the Labyrinth changes every so often. It will be like trying to defeat a whole different labyrinth."

Sarah weighed her options. The Labyrinth may have changed, but it could not have changed** that** much. And she supposed she could say no, but what was to stop him from badgering her even more? And the likelihood of him letting her just walk out even if she did refuse his offer was pretty much slim to none.

"Alright, let me get this straight. I win, and you stay away from me, right?" she asked. "No more kidnapping Toby, unexpectedly arriving at my house . . . interfering with my dates?" She looked at Jareth pointedly. He held her gaze, totally unabashed.

"Absolutely. You win and I let you alone." It hurt to say that aloud, like someone was stabbing him in the chest.

Sarah hesitated. _Now or never._

"Alright then," she said finally. "Looks like we have a bargain." She stuck out her right hand.

Jareth nodded and shook her hand. "Right," he said, waving his hand. A clock with thirteen hours on it appeared out of thin air behind him.

"You have thirteen hours in which to solve the Labyrinth."

The king turned and walked away, almost stomping, and disappeared, as Sarah looked around and wondered where she should start. _Oh, boy. _


	4. Changes

Disclaimer: Of **course** I own Labyrinth! Duh!

Yeah, right.

CHAPTER FOUR: Changes

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Jareth stomped off to his bedroom angrily, kicking any goblins that stood in his way. He used to care about what the goblins would think if he showed his feelings about Sarah; he honestly couldn't say he really gave a damn about it at the moment. He was furious.

He wasn't necessarily angry at himself. He shouldn't have lost his head like that. He shouldn't have even gone to Sarah's house, regardless of the state of his emotions. He should have waited until he had calmed down. He knew all of that. But it was impossible to remain calm where Sarah was concerned. And he was screwed if she won.

Jareth sat down heavily on the four-poster bed and sighed. A goblin opened his door to deliver some tea, but at the look of the infuriated goblin king, the goblin backed out hurriedly, tripping over his own feet. Jareth rubbed his temples, willing away the migraine that was threatening to split his head in two.

He could have **made** her stay. It would have been quite easy to simply hold her in the castle and force her to remain there. She was powerless to stop him. She never would have gotten away from him- and even if, by some miracle, she did escape. Jareth could have simply dragged her back. _So why didn't I?_

_Because I would have hated it_, he thought miserably. Jareth didn't like the thought that Sarah would have been there because he had forced her to do so. It was preferable to have her there because she chose to be there. That's not to say she wouldn't run away later; as a matter of fact, he was almost positive that she would at least attempt, if not actually succeed, to run away. But at least she willingly made a deal with him. And who knew; maybe she could learn how to at least tolerate him, maybe even like him. He wasn't really betting that she would fall in love with him. She had made it very clear that she didn't love him, couldn't ever love him.

Jareth groaned. Things had been much simpler when Sarah wasn't plaguing his thoughts. He had always taken exactly what he wanted, even when he was younger. The only real reason he was still the king, aside from the fact that a majority of the goblins were too stupid to be able to try to take over, was that he was so ruthless and fierce toward his enemies that his subjects felt safe when following him, regardless of the fact that they didn't particularly like him. He was afraid of nothing- except one human girl who could crush his heart with a single look. _I sound like a love-sick human._

He was in really big trouble if Sarah beat the labyrinth again. And even if she didn't, he was still totally screwed. He wanted to be with her, but having a partner of another race- especially a human - was taboo, completely unthinkable. It would almost certainly mean problems for Jareth, even as formidable as he was. Unfortunately for him, he needed Sarah like he needed air. The desire to be with her overrode all other feelings. Jareth was confident that he could handle anyone who opposed him- including Sarah.

Waving his hand in the air, he conjured up a crystal and stared into it. He smiled; Sarah was still slightly outside the Labyrinth, although it wouldn't take her very long to get started. The Labyrinth never stayed the same, though . . . once she was in, she was in completely new territory. Even when Sarah had been in the labyrinth two years ago, it had been changing, although she didn't realize it; it changed almost constantly, a little bit at a time, hardly enough for anyone to pay attention to it. Her memories of the Labyrinth would be next to useless.

He grinned again. _This should be a piece of cake. _But one other thing to take care of…

Sarah wandered around the goblin city, looking for the entrance. Most things looked familiar, but everything had been moved around, and looked, overall, nicer. Still, she was completely lost. She had been looking around for the gates to the city for about ten minutes, with absolutely no result, other than driving her insane.

_I cannot believe this. _

She had to get out of the Labyrinth within thirteen hours. Okay. Fine. But if she didn't, she had to stay there until either she or Jareth died? What kind of deal was that? She was just supposed to leave her life behind because he wanted her to stay there. What about all of the things she would lose, like her parents, or Toby? What about her friends? Mark had just asked her out, finally . . .it wasn't fair.

"So I make sure I win," she muttered to herself, unconsciously picking up her pace. If she lost, she might be able to run away, but she knew Jareth well enough to know that he would come after her. She might as well not even bother. But she simply refused to marry Jareth. There was no way.

She did regret losing her temper like she had. Way to be mature, Sarah. But something about the Goblin King irked her, and it brought out her temper. He frustrated her to absolutely no end.

She kept walking, past all of the stone houses. After about five more minutes, she saw the gates to the city. Grinning, she broke out into a run and raced over to the gates, opening them and peeking out.

The first thing Sarah noticed about the scene before her was that it was **gorgeous**. The last time she had been there, there had been garbage and all sorts of rubbish lying around. Now she saw nothing but beauty. There were trees and flowers everywhere, and bright green grass covering the ground. What was once a garbage dump had become one of the most beautiful meadows she had ever seen. A few hundred yards away, she saw a very tall wall.

"Wow," she breathed softly.

Sarah continued to walk forward, trying not to get sidetracked by the flowers and trees. _Wouldn't that be just perfect_, she thought sarcastically, _if the reason I didn't beat the Labyrinth because I was sidetracked by a bunch of pretty flowers. I would have to hang myself. _This thought urged her forward even more quickly.

A few moments later, Sarah reached the wall, and only then did she notice the other person standing there, leaning against the twenty-foot wall with his arms folded across his chest, staring into space.

"Hoggle!" Sarah exclaimed, grinning broadly.

Hoggle sat up as he heard his name, looking around wildly. He saw Sarah and strode over, concern marring his features, though he didn't seem surprised to see her.

"Are you alright?"

Sarah sighed. _Where to begin?_

She told him what had happened, starting with the end of her date and progressing through her disturbing conversation, and ended with her bargain with Jareth. Hoggle just nodded.

"Yeah, he was already here."

Sarah immediately knew why. "I suppose he told you you're not to help me."

Hoggle nodded. "'Under absolutely no circumstances', he said." Hoggle rolled his eyes, and Sarah thought she heard him mutter some obscenities under his breath.

"I have no idea how I'm going to do this, Hoggle," Sarah admitted, close to tears.

"I'll help you anyway, don't worry. I don't think he really expected me not to—just something he'll use to hold over our heads later. We'll get through this. At least Toby's safe this time."

Sarah nodded. That much was true; she didn't have to worry about what might happen to her little brother.

"I was so thrown thought. I never even **imagined** that Jareth would . . ." she broke off, not quite knowing how to say what she was feeling.

"He's been obsessed with you for over two years. You hurt him somethin' terrible when you left," Hoggle said.

Lovely.

"Well, I need to figure out a way to beat the Labyrinth again," Sarah said, turning to the wall once again. "I'll be damned if I'm going to get married to that self-centered brat." She looked at him. "Don't you just know the way through this time?"

The dwarf shook his head. "No; it changes even faster now. In the city, everything stays the same, so if you live there or beyond the Labyrinth, you're fine. But the Labyrinth itself changes, and often. We're on our own on this one."

_Figures._

Sarah looked hard at the wall. To the untrained eye, it looked as if there were no openings whatsoever. She knew better, though. She walked forward, hands outstretched, and touched the wall. She walked to the left a few feet, hand still on the brick wall, until her hand fell through it.

"Found one," she said, walking through. Hoggle followed her quickly.

They continued on for several minutes, randomly choosing paths. Several times, Sarah and Hoggle found themselves in a spot they were sure they had already been in.

"At least it's prettier this time," she noted, seeing more flowers along the way.

"Should'a seen it a hundred or so years ago, you think last time was bad. Place was a wreck."

"How old **are** you, Hoggle?" Sarah wondered.

"Only about 120," He answered, shrugging. At the look on Sarah's face, he chuckled.

"Oh, that's nothing. Ludo once told me that he was about 150. And I don't even want to **try** to figure out how old Jareth is." He kept walking.

Sarah sighed. "This is going to be harder than I thought," she muttered.

Hoggle shrugged. "It's a labyrinth. Wasn't meant to be easy." That much was true.

As they walked, Sarah looked around, trying hard to remember if she had ever seen any of it. Nothing looked even remotely familiar.

"At least we know one landmark," Hoggle said as they rounded yet another corner.

Sarah's brow furrowed. "And which one might that be?"

"The Bog of Eternal Stench." Hoggle grinned. "Jareth likes to use it as punishment; he would never give it up."

Sarah rolled her eyes. _Of all the things to keep around . . ._

"So Jareth controls all of the changes?" she asked.

Hoggle nodded. "No idea how, though. Must come with the title. Have to say, the place has been getting better, 'specially since you left." He thought for a moment. "Y'know, I think he straightened everything out to impress you," he said.

As Sarah thought about that, Hoggle peered down the long aisle, then sniffed. "Ah . . . now I recognize something."

He half-jogged down the pavement, rounding the corner on the right. Sarah was just about to ask when she sniffed, and felt that she didn't need to. She groaned.

"Wonderful." The Bog of Eternal Stench.

Hoggle chuckled. "Happy to be back?"

"Hush, you," Sarah said, covering her mouth and nose. She looked at the bog; she didn't see a way through.

"How are we going to cross?"

Hoggle scratched his chin. "I . . .uh . . ."

Great. No clue.

Sarah looked around, hoping there was something that could help them. Staring at the trees that surrounded them, she suddenly got an idea.

"How deep is the bog?"

"What?" Hoggle asked, confused. "Oh . . . probably about three feet. Not very deep, really. But I am **not** wading through that thing. Sorry, but frankly, I'd rather see you marry Jareth."

"Thanks ever so much," Sarah replied sourly. "But don't worry; I've got an idea."

She walked over to a very large tree standing nearby, about six feet around and looking as if it would topple over at the tiniest gust of wind. She motioned to Hogle.

"Help me push this over."

They pushed together, easily tipping the tree over. It fell into the bog. They walked across the tree, balancing like felines while they covered their noses to block out the odor. Following the path around the bog, Sarah saw the bricks that signaled the continuation of the labyrinth.

"We are **good**," Sarah said, grinning widely as she slapped Hoggle a high-five.

"I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you," said a voice.


	5. Visitor

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

CHAPTER FIVE: Visitor

* * *

Jareth grinned, almost laughing aloud, at the surprised look on Sarah's face.

"So, the labyrinth isn't as easy as you thought it would be, eh?" he said casually. Sarah rolled her eyes, her surprise melting away into anger and frustration. She reminded herself to remain calm.

"What do you want?" she demanded. She was irritated now; he had scared her again, and she hated that. He always had a way of startling her, and it made her feel vulnerable. _Calm._

"Not happy to see me?" he asked, mocking a hurt expression.

"Not especially," Hoggle growled suddenly from near Jareth's knee. Jareth looked down at him, shocked that the scabby little creature would dare take such a tone with him.

"How much more of this is she supposed to take from you?" Hoggle went on angrily. "You had to threaten her so you could have a chance with her? What kind of relationship could you ever have with her that way?"

Jareth had had about enough. He glared at the dwarf. "You must have a real death wish, talking to me like that. Especially after I warned you once already not to help her. You just got away from the Bog of Eternal Stench; do you really want to go back permanently?"

All the fight seemed to leave Hoggle. His face turned white as chalk, and he stepped back a few steps, closer to Sarah. Jareth looked up at the young girl again, looking slightly smug.

"You can back out any time, you know," he said, his voice as pleasant as if Hoggle had never even opened his mouth. "Quit while you're ahead?" He raised his eyebrows.

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "No thanks. I'll be just fine," she said, forcing a polite tone.

Jareth grinned, flashing his perfect teeth. He hadn't really expected Sarah to give up so quickly; in fact, he would have been quite disappointed if she had done so. But, for all that she had changed, her stubbornness, it seemed, had stayed solidly in place. He was glad; it was one of the things he loved most about her, that determination- or perhaps this was just another attempt to piss him off.

"Suit yourself," he said, shrugging as if it didn't matter to him. "I'll see you soon enough anyway."

"You don't think I can do this." It wasn't a question.

"I think you underestimate the disadvantage you have," Jareth replied coolly. He certainly didn't think that she wasn't capable of beating the Labyrinth; she was just so sure of herself that she was almost certain to fail.

"You are only beginning to understand the differences between the Labyrinth as it was two years ago and the labyrinth as it is now. Perhaps you've noticed how different it is from the last time," he continued.

"I can do it," Sarah said stubbornly.

Jareth smiled again. He had been right; still pigheaded as ever. "It's a piece of cake, right?" He said, smirking again when she blushed.

"Well, you had better get moving. You only have twelve hours left- and you have a very long way to go." With that, he disappeared.

"Still creeps me out when he does that," Sarah muttered.

"Tell me about it," Hoggle said. "What a jerk."

"You were good though," Sarah said. "You stood up to him."

"Yeah," Hoggle said bitterly, "and then I backed down like a wounded puppy."

"Well, he's scary," she said. She knew Jareth scared the bejesus out of **her**. She didn't blame Hoggle one bit for backing down. Hoggle grunted, clearly still angry at himself for being a coward.

"So, where do you think we should go next?" Sarah asked, trying to change the subject. They had come to a fork in the road, and as Sarah had expected, both paths looked identical.

"Hmm . . ." Hoggle muttered, looking around him. "That way." He pointed down the path to the left. Sarah shrugged and followed his advice.

"Why this way?" Sarah wondered.

"Because I think I know where this leads."

Sarah raised her eyebrows, interested. "Where?"

Hoggle gave her an agonized look.

"To my mother's house."

* * *

Jareth walked down a long hallway in his castle, absentmindedly toying with a crystal. He smiled to himself.

Jareth had wondered how Sarah and her scabby little sidekick were going to handle the Bog of Eternal Stench. He had been, despite how he knew he **should** feel, quite pleased that she had made it through. She had always been astonishingly intelligent and creative. He knew by now that Sarah had realized that the Labyrinth would be much more difficult to solve. Even Hoggle was having trouble with it, Jareth was delighted to see; he never ventured out of the little hut of his unless absolutely necessary, keen on staying as far away from Jareth as possible. The king wasn't at all surprised that Hoggle had decided to help Sarah; disgusting and irritating though he was, he was a good friend.

He walked to his large bedroom and shut the door, a warning to all of the goblins who were in his castle not to disturb him. He turned around and sat down once more on his bed. He sighed; it was unbearably frustrating to know that he was so close to the only thing that he had ever really wanted, and the one thing that he knew he may not ever get. He had always gotten exactly what he wanted; now, it seemed that he was destined never to have Sarah.

He refused to believe that. He had promised himself that he would have Sarah. He was determined to marry her, and soon. Jareth was confident that he would have her by that evening.

"Finally," he whispered, as he stared at Sarah through the crystal in his hand.


	6. Family Reunion

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

CHAPTER SIX: Family Reunion

* * *

"How long has it been since you've seen you mother?" Sarah wondered aloud. She had never even heard him talk about any of his family; she didn't even know that they were around.

"Eight months," Hoggle grumbled. "I went to see her when she was hosting my aunts 257th birthday." He shuddered at the memory; a house full of people whom he couldn't stand.

"You don't seem very excited to see her," Sarah commented.

Hoggle gave her a look. "My mother and I . . . don't get along very well."

"Why?"

Hoggle sighed, clearly getting impatient with her. "I'm an 'ungrateful traitor', as she likes to say. I told you, I've never really like Jareth, whether I said that to his face or not. He scares me, but when he wasn't around I made my dislike for him very well known."

"I take it your mother is a big Jareth supporter."

"She thinks he's the best thing since fairy repellant."

They rounded a few more corners, coming to a clearing where there were two rows of beaten up brick houses facing each other. There was no one outside; the place was deserted, it seemed. Sarah followed Hoggle past several of the houses, coming to a stop in front of one with a small vegetable garden. Hoggle gulped. Taking in a deep breath, he walked up to the door and knocked loudly.

A moment later, another dwarf answered the door. It was obviously a female, judging from her rather large chest, and she had graying hair and black eyes. It looked as if she hadn't bathed in several weeks; she had dirt caked onto her face and clothing. It was obvious that she wasn't a very warm person. She looked up at Hoggle, who stood several centimeters above her.

"Oh, it's you," she said, paying no attention to Sarah. Her voice had a somewhat metallic rasp, as if she used it only very rarely. Clearly this was where Hoggle got his grunty way of speaking.

"Hi, Mama," Hoggle muttered reluctantly. Sarah noticed that he did not look his mother in the eye.

Hoggle's mother grunted and turned back into her house, leaving the door hanging wide open. Hoggle, who apparently took this as an invitation inside, motioned to Sarah and walked into the house. Biting her lip apprehensively, Sarah followed suit.

The inside of the house look very much like a very old, very dirty, and very small human house. To the left, a tiny dining table and two chairs sat near a cabinet stacked up with china and flatware. On the right, a faded green armchair sat next to a table that was covered in what looked like beer cans. There was a door in the right corner, which Sarah assumed led to a bedroom. The walls were bare.

Hoggle motioned to Sarah again, sitting down on a low dining room chair. Sarah mimicked him, trying not to look at the grime covered table. Like its owner, it looked like it had not been wiped down in a long time. Hoggle's mother moved some garbage away from the armchair before sitting there. Sarah felt very cramped in the too-small chair

"So what do you want now?" she asked, still directing her questions at Hoggle.

Hoggle looked nervous. "Well . . . we need help. Sarah and I are trying to find the other side of the labyrinth."

Hoggle's mother laughed, a sound similar to a bark. "Still running away from his Highness? I expect you would know the way if you were brave enough to go near him."

"Sarah and Jareth have a bargain," he explained. "She has eleven hours left to get out of the labyrinth or she . . . well, she has to marry the Goblin King." Hoggle didn't look happy as he said this; in fact, he looked like he was the one who was going to have to marry Jareth.

Hoggle's mother sat up, raising her eyebrows so far that they almost disappeared into her graying hair.

"The goblin king chose **you**?" she asked, incredulous. Sarah nodded, shy now that a question had finally been directed at her, though she did not like the tone in which the dwarf put her question; she made it sound as if she thought Sarah were not good enough to marry Jareth.

Hoggle's mother stared at Sarah for a moment. Sarah felt herself begin to blush, confused as to why the elderly goblin was so entranced by her. After about a minute, Hoggle's mother seemed to come to her senses, standing up and quickly looked around. She seized the empty beer cans next to her, throwing them into a bag next to the dining table. She then grabbed a rag off the floor and wet it with water from a bucket.

"I apologize for the mess," Hoggle's mother said, wiping up the grime on the table vigorously. Hoggle rolled his eyes.

"Suck up," he muttered under his breath. Hoggle's mother whipped around to glare at him.

"What was that, boy?" she barked.

"Nothing," Hoggle said quickly. His mother turned back to Sarah, continuing to wipe off the table.

"So, you're trying to reach the other side of the labyrinth, eh? It won't be easy."

Hoggle was growing impatient. "How do we get out, Mother? You must have some idea."

Hoggle's mother looked about ready to turn around and tell her son off, but looking at Sarah, she thought better of it. Sarah was confused by her behavior. _Why is she acting so odd?_

"Keep walking north until you come to a forest. Then walk east, until you reach the end of the labyrinth. It's quite a long walk."

"That sound simple enough," Sarah said.

"Ah . . . it **sounds** easy, but I assure you you'll have problems actually accomplishing it. It'll keep changing, of course. But the general direction should stay relatively similar." Sarah wasn't sure she liked all the qualifiers Hoggle's mother put into that sentence. In other words, **maybe** her directions would be helpful.

Sarah nodded and stood, looking at the watch on her wrist. They had a little over ten and a half hours. _Better get moving._

"Thank you Mrs . . . . er . . ." she faltered. She blushed when she realized that she had no idea what Hoggle's last name was. Did dwarves even have last names?

"Call me Miranda."

"Well, Miranda, thank you very much." Sarah and Hoggle walked towards the door.

"Thanks Mama. I'll stop by another time," Hoggle said to his mother, backing out of the house as quickly as he could. He was very anxious to get out of his mother's tiny house.

"I look forward to it," Miranda replied, smiling forcedly. Sarah didn't think that she sounded very sincere.

"Thanks again. Bye." Sarah followed Hoggle out of the house.

Hoggle led Sarah out of the house and down the street quickly, passing many houses that looked similar to Miranda's. Hoggle shook his head, muttering under his breath and looking furious.

"Cannot believe she did that . . . no idea what she was thinking . . . she must think . . . how did she think she could get away with this?" Sarah heard bits and pieces of Hoggle's conversation with himself. After about a minute, Sarah became very annoyed and looked down at her friend.

"Hoggle, are you planning on telling me exactly what you're going on about?"

Hoggle looked at her sourly, hesitant. "My mother doesn't think you can make it. The only reason she helped us was so that you would favor her . . . er . . . when you become Queen."

"What?" Sarah exploded, feeling slightly betrayed. Hoggle looked up at her, apologetic. "She honestly doesn't think I can do this? Well . . ." she broke off, furious. Who did Miranda think she was? Sarah had gotten through the labyrinth once before, had she not? So the labyrinth was a little - okay, very - different from the last time she had been there. Big deal. It didn't mean she was completely hopeless. She could still do this.

She stopped and thought a moment. "Won't Jareth be pissed off when he realizes she helped us? Seems to me it didn't serve her much good."

Hoggle shrugged. "Never said she was the brightest."

Sarah looked at the path ahead of them. "Fine." She started walking again, with more determination this time. "Just another person I get to prove wrong."


	7. Attack

Disclaimer: Read the previous disclaimers. I sound like a broken record.

CHAPTER SEVEN: Attack

* * *

It took Sarah and Hoggle about an hour and a half to make it to the forest; they had to get out of the little village, which was small enough, but then they had to walk through fields and across a little creek. They finally made it to the forest, and Sarah had felt her eyes widen when she saw it. The forest was enormous- several miles to the other side at least- and very thick. She and Hoggle had looked at each other and sighed, trudging forward.

Sarah and Hoggle walked through the thick trees. Sarah was trying her hardest not to let Hoggle see that she was scared. But the forest was giving her the creeps; there were trees everywhere, with creatures that she had never seen before poking their heads out of holes in them. She was very anxious, and wasn't quite sure what to expect. At one point, she looked back, and realized that everything behind them had changed. She pushed forward. _Not a lot of time left._

She and Hoggle had been very quiet for the last twenty minutes or so, concentrating on their task.

"How much longer, do you think?" she asked Hoggle. He started when he heard her speak.

"Hm? Oh . . . I reckon about . . . oh, another three or four hours. It's a big forest. And we still have a ways to go once we get out of it."

Sarah groaned. She didn't think that she could take much more. _Stupid Jareth._ _It's all_ _his fault._

Suddenly, Sarah heard stomping, and low, loud grumbling. She froze, looking down at Hoggle. He was wearing an expression that mirrored exactly what she was feeling; complete terror.

"What was that?" she whispered, not daring to move.

Hoggle's eyes were wide as dinner plates. "I can't believe I forgot," he said softly.

"Forgot **what**?" Sarah demanded, impatient.

Hoggle gulped. "A-a huge monster lives here, in the forest. It had terrorized the goblins for a few weeks, before it just . . . stopped. It came to live here. No one ever goes in this forest, even though the monster hasn't attacked in about a year." He was shaking, pale as a ghost. He spoke so softly, Sarah had to read his lips to understand exactly what he was saying.

"Did you ever actually see this monster?"

Hoggle shook his head. "The attacks happened near Jareth's castle. I told you, I never go near there if I can help it. I can't believe my mother sent us this way," he muttered.

Sarah thought hard. This definitely made things more difficult. But she wasn't about to give up just because of some monster.

"Come on," she said to Hoggle. She walked on a few feet, before realizing that Hoggle wasn't following her. She turned around, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well?" she asked. Hoggle was looking at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Are you deaf? Did you not hear me say that this monster has attacked a bunch of goblins? You want to keep going?" he asked in disbelief.

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "If you're afraid, you don't have to come with. I can do this by myself." She turned around again, striding away. She heard Hoggle groan exasperatedly, followed by hurried footsteps. She smirked.

"Can't believe I let you talk me into this," he grumbled under his breath. Sarah got the impression that Hoggle would have been very angry with himself if he had let her go on by herself.

They walked in silence now, listening even more intently than before for any more signs of this monster. Sarah stopped suddenly when she though she heard a low growling.

"Please tell me that's your stomach," she whispered to Hoggle. He shook his head, and Sarah groaned. She took another step and then gasped, taking several steps back.

"If we make it out of here, I just might kill your mother," she whispered.

A large, furry, red beast had emerged from behind a very thick tree. It took a long look at Sarah and Hoggle, who was cowering in fear and, as far as Sarah could tell, praying quietly. The monster opened its mouth and roared loudly, much like a lion would. Sarah whimpered and stepped back, even as the monster walked forward and drew its humongous arm back. It backhanded her, sending her sprawling into a tree. Sarah heard Hoggle call her name in panic as she hit the tree trunk and fell to the ground.

A moment later, Sarah heard another roar, this one more familiar. She opened her eyes bleakly and saw that another beast had tackled the one that had hit her. Sarah smiled.

"Ludo," she said, barely able to hear herself. She felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder, and was sure it was broken. She was aware that she had bruises, although they didn't hurt nearly as much as her arm.

Sarah heard another familiar voice, screaming at the monster, although the voice sounded stuffy, as if the speaker was holding its nose clamped shut.

"Back! Back!" the voice was shouting. Sarah smiled again, realizing that Sir Didymus had come to help too. They were backing the monster, who was much larger, into a grouping of trees. By the looks of it, they were trying to scare it away rather than use brute force to fight it off.

A moment later, Sarah saw the red beast flying through the air into another tree; Ludo must have picked it up and thrown it. A rather large limb came off of the tree, falling onto Sarah's head. _Oh God,_ she thought. Then she blacked out.


	8. Guilt

Disclaimer: Of **course** I own Labyrinth!

Come on, now. Read the previous disclaimers.

CHAPTER EIGHT: Guilt

* * *

Jareth stared at the young girl lying on the large bed in a spare room of his castle, feeling helpless. She looked beautiful, yet horrible at the same time; bruises covered a large part of her arms and face, and her arm was broken. He didn't know how to handle it; he had never seen a person with that many bruises before. It would be a simple matter to fix it with magic—it would take her only a few days to fully recover—but seeing her like this…

Jareth sighed. He had wanted to beat Sarah in their little game, but not at this price. She looked pitiful, covered in black and blue spots. He felt terrible, thinking back to when he could have stopped the pain Sarah had gone through.

FLASHBACK

Jareth appeared in the middle of a deserted street, looking very angry. He strode up to the house in front of him and knocked on the door loudly, seething.

A short female goblin answered the door, her eyes widening when she saw who had knocked. She quickly stepped inside and held the door open, bowing low. Jareth stepped inside, ducking slightly at the low ceiling.

"Your Highness," the goblin said. "How may I be of service?" She continued to bow, her nose only about an inch away from the floor. Jareth noticed as he looked around the incredibly small house that it looked less messy than it had the last time he had "visited".

"The girl who was just here," Jareth growled through gritted teeth. "Do you have any idea who that was, Miranda? What you could have just cost me?"

Miranda finally straightened. "Oh, you don't think she'll make it all the way through, do you?" she asked, laughing. "She'll fail, your Highness, I'm sure of it. Especially if my idiot son is helping her."

"You don't know her as well as I do," Jareth said, irritated. "She stands a very good chance."

"She doesn't know what lives in the forest."

Jareth blanched. That could be good for him- but potentially dangerous for Sarah. He thought, wondering if he should go after her and make sure that she doesn't get hurt. On the other hand, Sarah was very capable. Still, she could get very hurt, or worse . . . he shook his head slightly, trying to get the thought of her being injured out of his head.

"There, you see?" Miranda said, pleased with herself. "No problems."

Jareth nodded, slowly. She was right. Everything would be fine. It wasn't possible for Sarah to make it out of the labyrinth in time- she would be too terrified of that beast to even move. Jareth never would have thought she'd go that way- there were dozens of other paths she could have taken- but he could easily make sure she didn't get hurt. This could even work to his advantage; if Sarah got into trouble and he swooped in to save her, he would be regarded as a hero.

"Well then," Jareth said. "I suppose I should thank you."

"Anytime, your Highness, really," Miranda said excitedly. "And if you ever need anything, I'm always here-"

"Yes, thank you," he said, cutting her off rudely. He turned and strode out the front door without a goodbye, paying attention that he didn't hit his head on the short door frame. He was lost in his thoughts by the time he was back outside.

The mere fact that Sarah had made it as far into the Labyrinth as she had worried him; as far as he could see, she hadn't had too much difficulty with it. A few wrong turns was all that had gone wrong for her. Lucky guesses, but still, if her luck held out, she would be at the castle within a few hours. She had clearly thought that having beaten the Labyrinth once before was going to work in her favor- from what he could tell, that though had pretty much evaporated. Still, she was doing remarkably well.

He was still a little concerned about leaving Sarah to fend for herself in the forest, especially with its occupant lying in wait. He made up his mind in a split second, disappearing from the village street in the blink of an eye.

He materialized again in the middle of a dense forest, surrounded by trees and plants of various colors. He searched momentarily, quickly spotting what he had been looking for. He climbed behind some trees to reach the creature.

Jareth tapped the huge beast on the elbow, unable to reach his shoulder. The creature turned around angrily, raising its large, furry hand to swat at the intruder. The beast actually looked at Jareth, and as recognition dawned on its face it lowered its arm, waiting for whatever the smaller being had to say.

"There will be a young girl coming here soon, a human," Jareth began, looking straight into the beast's eyes. He was unafraid of the gigantic monster; it had appeared in the Underground about a year ago, scaring the daylights out of everyone in the city and attacking quite a few goblins before Jareth finally got the opportunity to speak to it. They had come to an understanding of sorts; Jareth let the monster stay in the Underground, and in return the beast refrained from harming anyone. So far, the beast had followed the rules; it was stupid, but it had a sense of self-preservation- it knew better than to anger Jareth.

"Do not let her pass," Jareth continued. "Stop her at any cost." He paused for a moment.

"But do not kill her."

The goblin king looked at the creature carefully to make sure that the message had gotten across. The beast nodded. Jareth did the same, turning away swiftly and disappearing, reappearing quite suddenly in his own bedroom again.

END FLASHBACK

Jareth had thought that everything would be perfectly fine; the beast would keep Sarah from passing, either until time ran out or until Sarah got so frustrated that she quit. He didn't expect to look into his crystal and see Sarah with a broken arm and a bruised, battered body. He put his head in his hands and ran a hand through his blond hair, frustrated. If he had been more careful, he wouldn't be here, waiting for Sarah to regain consciousness.

He was lucky to have arrived when he had; the beast had been working on attacking Sarah's friends when he had pulled them out of there. Shortly afterward, he had ordered that the beast be dealt with- he had felt better, knowing that the monster couldn't attack Sarah again. He had also reluctantly given Sarah's friends medical attention from a trained goblin. He was told that Sarah should be fine, but she had been asleep for a long time . . .

_Stupid git_, he thought to himself angrily. _Should have phrased it differently. 'Stop her at all costs,' what a bloody ridiculous thing to say…_

Three feet away on the bed, Sarah moaned softly. Jareth looked up immediately, wondering if he had perhaps imagined it. Moments later, he saw Sarah's eyes beginning to open, and Jareth braced himself.

Once Sarah's eyes were fully opened, she looked at the man who sat before her. She scowled.

"Bastard," she heard him mutter. Jareth hung his head shamefully. He looked up a moment later, but still could not look her in the eye. Sarah was still wearing an angry expression. Jareth attempted to look calm.

"Glad to see that you're awake," he said in an attempt to sound pleasant.

"Shut up," Sarah hissed. She tried to sit up, wincing when she put pressure on her arm.

"As you can see, your arm is broken; I was able to have someone mend it, but it will take awhile for it to heal completely—a few days. You also have a lot of bruises, but they should disappear in a short while."

Sarah looked around at the bedroom; she had to admit, she had never seen a room more beautiful room. She was lying on a four-poster bed that was covered in a blue comforter and sheets. Across the room was a large wooden wardrobe, as well as a window that looked out on the city.

She thought back to what had happened . . . she could barely remember at first, but as she thought she remembered the beast, and getting thrown into a tree, and-

"Where's Hoggle? And Ludo?" She looked at Jareth, as though expecting him to tell her that he had fried them and eaten them for lunch. He noticed, and held up his hands.

"Your friend Ludo is asleep at the moment; he had a rather rough fall, but he'll be fine. Hoggle and the other one left the castle- they will be back later to check on you." Jareth did not feel the need to tell Sarah that the only reason Sarah's two friends left was because Jareth had actually thrown them out, threatening them with bodily injury if they came back any time soon.

Sarah sighed. At least her friends were safe. But she remembered her deal with Jareth . . . she lost. She put her head in her hands, sighing heavily.

Jareth could not keep the look of pity off his face now. It hurt him to see her like this; she looked vulnerable, helpless. He cleared his throat nervously; she did not look up. She looked less infuriated than she had before; now she merely looked... resigned. It looked as though the fight had left her, if such a thing were possible. It pained Jareth to watch.

"You just stay in here, try to get some sleep. I'll wake you when your friends come to visit, and then you can get some food in your stomach." Sarah didn't look up, and Jareth left the bedroom without another word.


	9. Musings of a Prisoner

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Thank you **so** much for the reminder.

CHAPTER NINE: Musings of a Prisoner

* * *

Sarah had been asleep for about two hours, she guessed, before she woke up. She had been dreaming; in her dream, she had actually beaten Jareth in their game and she was on her way to her house. She had woken up truly believing she was home, before she looked around and realized that she was lying in a bed in a spare room in Jareth's castle.

Sarah rolled over and tried to sleep, to no avail. She had too much on her mind. In just a few short hours she had lost everything- her family, her life, her friends. She was a prisoner here now. Groaning, she got up, wincing at the pain it caused her, and went over to the large window.

She was impressed by the view; the goblin city looked much more beautiful from this view. Just like many other things in the labyrinth, the goblin city had been restored, and looked like it had only been built a week ago. There were no broken buildings, no garbage thrown around- just a gorgeous city.

She heard a soft knock at the door. Spinning around quickly, she saw the door crack open and Ludo's enormous head poking through it. Sarah smiled.

"Ludo!" she exclaimed, running over and giving her furry friend a huge hug, being careful not to move her broken arm. Ludo was very gentle, realizing that she was in pain.

Sarah turned to Hoggle, giving him a hug as well. As she pulled away, Sarah saw that Hoggle was studying her, looking for any signs that she might break down and cry. He gave him a weak smile.

"I'm alright. Not really 'rainbows and puppies' alright, but . . . I'm alive. I'd say that's a start." She paused. "Thank you- both of you - for saving me." Ludo nodded, while Hoggle looked down at the floor.

"I didn't do nothin'," he muttered. "Just screamed like a coward again." Sarah shook her head.

"No, you helped me." Hoggle scoffed, refusing to meet her eyes. Sarah decided to change the subject.

"How's Didymus?"

Hoggle sighed. "Better, I think. We went to see him just before we came in here. According to Jareth, he woke up a lil' while ago, but went back to sleep. He's fine," he said quickly, noticing Sarah's look. "They were even able to make him stop sneezing." He cracked a weak smile.

"You talked to Jareth?"

Hoggle nodded. "Had to, didn' we? Coming into his castle an' all. Mind you, I wasn't sure Jareth was gonna be able t' walk away; Ludo was looking murderous."

Sarah looked at her enormous friend, wondering what he would look like if he were looking murderous- he almost always acted like a big, furry teddy bear. She couldn't help smiling at him- he was adorable. She petted his head fondly.

"So . . .what do you think is going to happen? With us, I mean," Sarah asked.

Hoggle bit his lip, unsure. "Well . . .you- you did lose, Sarah." He looked up at her with pity, and Sarah was certain that he would have gladly taken her place if he could have. "I don't think he's gonna let you leave. Ever." Sarah nodded. She wasn't surprised, but when the statement came from Hoggle it seemed final, like she couldn't do anything about it.

"'M so sorry," Hoggle whispered. Sarah smiled, although she was screaming in agony inside.

"I'll be fine," she said, hoping that she sounded sincere. "I'll deal with it."

A knock came at her door, and she froze. She wasn't ready to face Jareth just yet. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that Jareth wasn't the one knocking; a maid had come.

"Miss, his Highness asked that I come check on you and fetch you for dinner," the maid said, curtsying. Sarah nodded.

"Alright," Sarah said awkwardly. The maid entered the room the rest of the way, waiting.

"Jareth said we were to leave when it was time for dinner," Hoggle said, looking apologetic again. Sarah nodded. _So much for not wanting to see Jareth right now._

"It's alright, I'll be fine. You guys should go." She turned and gave Ludo a hug, not caring about her injured arm as she squeezed her friend tightly. She knelt down and hugged Hoggle as well.

"We'll come see you tomorrow, I promise," Hoggle said in her ear. Sarah smiled; she was lucky to have friends her cared about her as much as Hoggle and Ludo did. She stood up, sighing.

"I guess I'll see you guys later," she said, trying not to sound too sad. They nodded, backing out of the room.

"Bye, Sarah," Ludo said. Sarah watched them leave the room sadly, finally turning back to the maid.

"If I could just have you sit on the bed, miss," the maid said, walking over to a corner and retrieving what looked like a first aid kit. She walked back to Sarah and placed the kit on the bed, rummaging through it and pulling out bandages and what looked like alcohol.

"You look like you're doing much better, miss. Just a few scratches, and that arm," the maid said, pouring some alcohol onto a cloth carefully and dabbing at Sarah's cuts, making Sarah wince and bite her lip to keep from crying out. The maid finished quickly, then put everything away and looked at her arm carefully. She nodded in satisfaction.

"Well, it'll hurt for quite awhile, miss, but it should heal nicely," the maid said, pulling away and getting up to return the first aid kit to its place in the corner.

"Now, his Highness wishes for you to join him for dinner. It'll be just the two of you, don't worry."

Sarah didn't know if she felt more reassured by the fact that no one else would be there, or if she would rather be surrounded by people to avoid having a one-on-one discussion with Jareth.

"Do you know how Sir Didymus is doing?" Sarah asked the maid.

"Still sleeping," the maid answered. "He's looking pretty beat up, much worse than you are, but given time he'll be fine." She looked at a watch on her wrist, raising her eyebrows.

"We're late . . .best get going." The maid motioned for Sarah to follow her, and together they walked out of the room, marching silently down a long hallway. They came to a large staircase and walked down, turning to the right and walking down another hallway, this one shorter. They came to a large dining room, where Sarah saw the goblin king waiting in a chair. He stood when she entered the room. Sarah took a deep breath and walked forward.


	10. And Yet More Promises

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Labyrinth'.

CHAPTER TEN: And Yet More Promises

* * *

Jareth moved toward the chair nearest him, hoping Sarah wasn't too uncomfortable. He was well aware that she had never sat at a table this large. She was obviously intimidated. _Still beautiful, though. _He spotted her arm, pulled into a sling, and another pang of guilt hit him as he remembered that he was the one who had caused it. He took a calming breath as she approached him.

_Just act natural_, Jareth coached himself. _Yeah, right_.

"Sarah," he said, by way of greeting. He pulled out a chair and motioned for Sarah to sit. "How are you feeling?"

Sarah glanced around her apprehensively, noting how huge the dining room was. The large table was set for just two people. There was a painting on the wall, a very well done portrait of Jareth sitting in the throne room. Sarah looked back at the goblin king, sighing to herself quietly.

"I feel like I just got smacked around by a big huge monster," Sarah said wryly, sitting down. Jareth smirked as he moved to sit opposite her. Sarah looked a little uncomfortable, but he supposed that was to be expected. He was almost pleased to see that she still managed to hold her head up high, as if trying to prove that the situation in which she found herself didn't really bother her. _That's my girl_, he thought. Still, she looked slightly nervous; Jareth doubted, given her family life and her on-the-go parents, that she had ever sat down to a formal dinner. He was glad that he had ordered something simple that she would be familiar with (roasted chicken and potatoes, with green beans). He and Sarah both picked up their forks and began eating, neither saying a word.

After several minutes of silence, Jareth began to panic. What ever happened to the cocky Jareth who didn't care what anyone thought of him? _I'm getting to be pathetic_. Desperate, he thought of something to start a conversation.

"How's your arm feeling?" he asked suddenly. Sarah's head snapped up, startled. She looked at him, as if trying to see if he were trying to mess with her head. After a moment, she seemed to think it was safe to answer him.

"Still hurts, but I'll live."

Jareth nodded, searching for something to continue the conversation. "It should be healed within a few days. According to the medigoblin, it could have been much worse. Some nonsense about compound fractures." Sarah nodded, still concentrating on her plate and refusing to meet his eyes. She was hardly listening to Jareth. Jareth realized that he had run out of things to say. _Calm down,_ he coached himself. _At least she's talking to you . . . . sort of._

Sarah tried to snap herself out of it. _It could be worse_, she thought. _I could be locked in_ _a dungeon somewhere with nothing to eat._ _And God knows how long I'll be stuck here_. She cleared her throat.

"Er . . . good food," she said, a bit lamely.

Jareth bit back a grin, inwardly cheering. _That's better. _He worked to calm himself down; it wouldn't do to scare the poor girl.

"Er . . . yes, it's quite good. The cook's very talented, been working here for a little over four hundred years. I remember the day he was hired; I was very impressed with him. Hired him on the spot." _That's it, keep the conversation going._

Sarah couldn't help raising her eyebrows at this, no longer just pretending to be interested. "Four hundred years? How old **are** you?" Jareth laughed out loud at this; he had forgotten what a shirt life-span humans had compared with the beings that lived Underground.

"Going on 1,254 this year," he answered her, chuckling harder still when her eyes widened to become about the size of the dinner plate in front of her. "Oh, that's nothing. My father lived to be 4,002. We age a lot more slowly than humans do; the equivalent of sixteen Aboveground is about 400 years here."

Sarah's mouth continued to gape open. She couldn't imagine being that old. And she thought her parents were getting on in their age . . .

"Well, I feel young," she said at last, smirking a bit. She paused for a moment to think about the situation she was in: she was sitting at a table with Jareth- the cruel, heartless goblin king- eating chicken . . . and actually **enjoying** herself a little. She had even forgotten how furious she was with him for a moment. It was hard to hate him; as much as he was infuriating, he was charming; he made you forget everything. She looked at him now, noticing how much happier he seemed to be since they had begun talking; he'd been so sullen before.

"Well, I suppose compared to the rest of us you are," Jareth said, smiling along with her. They were silent for a moment, taking the time to eat some of their food, before Jareth cleared his thraot again.

"So how have you been since last I saw you?" he asked. Sarah raised her eyebrows.

"Because of course you haven't been keeping an eye on me." Jareth's face became flushed, making Sarah's eyebrows shoot up even more. _Did he just blush? Oh, my God. _She suppressed a giggle.

"I've been okay. Finished up with school and everything, and I'm . . . I was working on going to college." Jareth didn't miss the sad note in her voice as she thought about her life Aboveground. _Way to go, you bloody idiot. _

Sarah tried not to think about home, her enthusiasm about going to college, her friends, Toby . . . She brought her hand up discreetly while Jareth took a bite of his food, wiping away a tear that had leaked slowly out of her right eye. She hoped Jareth hadn't noticed it.

"So how have you been since the last time I saw you?" she asked him, hoping that he didn't notice the change in topic. Of course he did, but for once he didn't mock her for it.

"Busy. Lots of things to do, running a kingdom." Sarah resisted the urge to ask if he had stolen anyone's little brother lately. She mentally kicked herself for reminding herself that she wasn't ever going to see Toby again.

Jareth caught the pained look on her face. "What's wrong, love?" Sarah looked up, a tear threatening to streak down her face.

"Nothing," she said quickly. Jareth gave her a look, obviously not believing her. Sarah heaved a sigh, cursing Jareth mentally again for his stubbornness. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again when she realized that she didn't know how to say it. She decided to put it simply.

"I miss Toby."

Jareth's heart plummeted. He had known that Sarah was going to be upset. This, however, was too much. He looked at her, feeling a wave of sympathy pass over him. _Sympathy_. That was something he had not experienced in quite some time. He glanced at Sarah again and realized that she was crying, though she was trying to hide it by lowering her gaze to the table. His heart cracked.

He was silent for what seemed like several long minutes. Then he took a deep breath.

"You'd like to go back, wouldn't you." It wasn't a question. Sarah's eyes remained directed at the table. "To see your family again . . . and your friends, your life." Sarah looked up at him, not answering. Jareth didn't require a reply.

"After your arm heals." Sarah's eyes widened, wondering if she had heard the king correctly.

"It needs to heal completely before I can send you back, or it'll cause problems Aboveground. But as soon as it does, you'll see your family again." With that, Jareth quietly excused himself from the table. A tear slipped down Sarah's cheek as she stared off into space.

Jareth collapsed on his bed, sighing heavily. He could have kicked himself for what he had just done. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid; he'd finally gotten what he wanted: Sarah, with him forever. Things had even been going well, at least for the time that they had actually been conversing in the dining room. And he had just thrown it all away. He knew he was going to regret this.

_But it makes her so happy_. He was shocked to discover that that was what he truly wanted. Her happiness.

On the other hand . . . he didn't think he could have lived with himself if he had forced Sarah to stay Underground for all eternity, watching her be miserable for the rest of her existence. It would have been too much.

He contented himself with the thought that he would have a few more weeks to spend with Sarah, before he lost her again. He wouldn't think about what would happen after she left- the unimaginable torment- until he absolutely had to.

Sarah sat on her bed, wondering if she was dreaming. She was going to go home. She wiped a tear off her face. She was going to go home.

A knock came at her door. "Come in," she called. She raised her eyebrows in surprise when she saw who her visitor was. Jareth.

He looked perfectly calm, unnaturally so. "I just came by to make sure everything was satasfactory." Sarah nodded.

"Thank you, everything's fine." Jareth nodded, turning around to walk back out the door.

"Jareth?"

The goblin king stopped dead. He turned around slowly, hesitantly meeting sarah's eyes. She smiled softly.

"Thank you."

Jareth let the tranquil façade drop for a moment, surprised at the sincerity in Sarah's voice. He had no idea what to say; the words refused to come. He nodded once more, awkwardly, and left the room.

Sarah stared at the door. She felt a little bad; Jareth was genuinely upset that she was leaving. She still couldn't help but feel excited that she would be going back to see her parents and little brother shortly. She missed them so much already.

Another knock came upon her door. Sarah pulled it open, looking down at the female servant goblin, who bowed to her.

"Beggin' your pardon, miss," the goblin said, "but you have visitors." The servant goblin gestured around the corner, where Sarah saw Hoggle standing. He smiled at her, coming into her room without invitation. Sarah thanked the servant goblin, who curtsied again and left down the hall to attend to other duties. Sarah turned to her guest.

"How was dinner?" he asked her. Sarah smiled a bit.

"You'll never guess what happened."

"He kicked some goblins around for no good reason?" Hoggle guessed. Sarah shook her head, looking appalled at the suggestion.

Hoggle looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, that's all I can think of. What happened?"

Sarah smiled even more widely at saying it aloud for the first time.

"I'm going home."


	11. Meetings and Decisions

Disclaimer: In case you didn't get the memo before, I don't own 'Labyrinth' or any of the characters. Please don't sue me.

**CHAPTER ELEVEN:** **Meetings and Decisions**

**

* * *

**

The days passed by uneventfully. Every morning, Sarah woke up and went to breakfast with Jareth, where they would usually discuss trivial things such as the flowers outside (which, although they had been beautiful when she had arrived, had somehow become even more breathtaking in the passing weeks). After breakfast, Jareth would sometimes have other things to do (it had honestly astounded her how busy he was; she had always imagined him simply witting on his backside while other people did the work), and would leave Sarah to her own devices. The first few days, of course, Sarah had explored the castle, marveling at its vastness. She had seen the kitchen, full of goblins hard at work to please the king (including the chef, who had been delighted to meet her and had let her sample that nights' dinner). She had discovered many paintings within the halls, most of which were of Jareth or other royalty who looked a lot like him; Sarah supposed these were his family members.

Sir Didymus has sustained much greater injuries than she had; many bones were broken, and he was covered in bruises. It soon became apparent that though she was healed well, Didymus had a few weeks left to go before he was back to his old self. Sarah had asked permission to stay longer while her friend healed, a request which was immediately granted. A few more weeks was certainly fine by him. Sarah visited Didymus every day, though he was not always conscious. Hoggle and Ludo had also braved the castle to check on both of them.

After the first couple of weeks, though, Sarah began simply sitting in the garden, enjoying the beauty of everything. There were all types of flowers and plants, some of which she recognized and others which could only be from the Underground. She often sat there and thought, spending hours there. Jareth would sometimes come and sit with her after his business was finished.

Jareth had become a lot more friendly to her. He seemed to be more cheerful, and even the goblins noticed. He had allowed Sarah's friends to come visit her any time they wanted to; Sir Didymus' health was steadily recovering. Jareth and Sarah spoke every day about different things: her life Aboveground (her eyes still welled up whenever she thought about how much she missed Toby), the weather, politics in the Underground (which was just as bad as politics Aboveground), and his life as a child with his parents. Sarah learned that Jareth had been an only child (that was a surprise . . . not), and that he had known since he could understand speech that he was to become the Goblin king. He had been very spoiled as a child (again, that had been obvious) and, much to Sarah's surprise, had at one point decided that he didn't want to become king. When Sarah had asked why, incredulous, Jareth had simply shrugged.

"Didn't seem like much fun. Contrary to popular belief, being king isn't as easy as it seems; there are political meetings, listening to people complain all day about the way you're running your kingdom, boring parties . . . and I had to deal with all of this when I was very young. I just didn't want to deal with it for the rest of my life."

"What changed your mind?" Sarah had asked.

Jareth looked thoughtful for a moment. "I suppose I just realized that I didn't have a choice in the matter; it's who I am. I guess it's just one of those things that you don't have any control over." Sarah had stayed silent for a moment, thinking about that. She had never realized, or even imagined, that Jareth had never wanted to be the goblin king. She had always assumed that he had grown up a spoiled brat who couldn't wait to be king and completely rule the kingdom.

Sarah had been at the castle for several weeks by now, and her friend was healing beautifully. Therefore, Jareth sat on his monstrously large bed on a bright, sunny Thursday and moped, looking anxious.

He knew very well that he had promised that Sarah could go home when her arm had healed completely, and somehow she had decided she could put up with him while Didymus healed. He knew that his time with her was almost up. He had enjoyed the last few weeks with her immensely; simply talking with her brought him joy. He believed that she honestly enjoyed spending time with him; they hadn't fought or argued at all since her first night in the castle. Jareth couldn't ever remember a time when he felt more at peace than when he was with Sarah; he had never loved someone like he loved Sarah before, and the thought both delighted and terrified him. It was amazing the lengths he would go to just to see her smile, to see her face light up and know that he was the cause of it. The idea that all of that was about to end made him want to cry, and he had come close to doing so several times. He had tried to imagine what his life would be like when she left the Underground, and found that he could not.

He had asked himself, many times, why he did not simply refuse to let her leave. Every time, he came back with the same answer, the answer that he received when he first thought about just taking Sarah Underground and forcing her to stay; she would hate it. Every now and again, she would talk of her life Aboveground, and Jareth saw how miserable she was without her baby brother. He couldn't stand to be the cause of her pain for the rest of her life. He would gladly suffer for her to be happy, and just take pleasure in the fact that she was happy because of him.

Still, he sat there in the small hours of the morning trying to figure out a way to persuade Sarah to stay with him, finding nothing. He was aware of the fact that she did not love him; although they had formed a sort of bond with him over the last several weeks, she had never allowed him to be close to her, and Jareth hadn't pushed the matter. He was fairly certain, by now, that she had realized that he really did love her; Jareth knew that she didn't believe him in the beginning, had thought that someone like him wasn't capable of loving someone else. Truth be told, Jareth wasn't sure he could blame Sarah for thinking that way; he had been very cruel to her in the beginning, proving his selfishness. He hoped that she saw how he had changed since then, becoming more like a man than a spoiled child. Nevertheless, he was certain that she would not stay with him. She wasn't in love with him. Oddly enough, he was all right with that. At one point, he would have given anything to have her love him, but he had realized through spending time with her that if she never returned his feelings for him, he would survive. It hurt, but being able to be near her was more important.

_Look how sentimental I've become in my old age_, he thought, smiling to himself slightly. There had been a time when all of the Underground had been terrified of him . . . now the goblins who lived in his castle treated him more like an equal, greeting him in the hallways, unafraid of being cheerful in his presence. Jareth smiled to himself; that had all been Sarah's doing.

Looking outside, Jareth decided that he had better stop procrastinating and get out of bed; he couldn't lie there all day. Stretching, he climbed out form under the silk covers and walked over to his armoire, picking out his clothing for the day (he could, of course, have had a goblin to help him, but he had always preferred to keep such matters more private). Having decided what to wear, he then walked into his large bathroom and took a hot but speedy shower, then changed into his clothes. Minutes later, a goblin named Darryn knocked on the door, bringing in his morning tea.

"Good morning, your Highness. Hope you slept well?" Darryn asked, setting the tea on a nearby table. Jareth nodded, slightly preoccupied with straightening his shirt.

"Is Sarah up yet?" Jareth asked the goblin, trying to keep his voice nonchalant. Jareth still worried about how the goblins viewed his relationship with Sarah; it would only cause problems among those who hated outsiders. Jareth had already seen it; goblins muttering in the halls of the castle about the human girl and hoping that she would be gone soon. Though many of the goblins in his castle liked Sarah, openly declaring his love for her would be a very foolish thing to do, and it could potentially be dangerous.

"Yes, sir, I think she's just getting dressed now," Darryn answered. For a moment, Jareth could have sworn that Darryn knew about his feelings for Sarah. When he looked at the goblin closer, however, he could see no evidence to this.

Jareth drank some of his tea, then strode out his bedroom door, making his way down to the dining room. He saw Sarah sitting at the table, not touching her food. He smirked; Sarah always waited until he was seated at the table before she ate. He sat down next to her, lifting his napkin off the table and placing it in his lap.

"Good morning," he said, picking up a glass of orange juice that had been pored for him by one of the goblins. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, just fine, thank you," Sarah said, buttering her toast. Actually, she had slept more than well; the bed that had been put in her room was the most comfortable bed she had ever slept on, although she would never say this to Jareth. _No need to swell his head even more._

"That's good." Sarah and Jareth ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes, enjoying the delicious food.

"What are you doing today?" Sarah asked. Jareth scrunched up his nose in distaste, and Sarah fought the urge to giggle at the expression, although she was certain Jareth saw the look on her face by the way he scowled at her slightly. Jareth cleared his throat and continued.

"I have a meeting, it shouldn't take long." Sarah looked at him quizzically.

"What's the meeting about?" she asked. Jareth shrugged his shoulders.

"Apparently, a group of goblins wishes to speak with me. It could have something to do with the rebellion." Again, Sarah was puzzled.

"Rebellion?"

Jareth sighed; he had forgotten about that. "Long story short, a bunch of goblins hated the way I was running the place and decided to do something about it." He looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. "And I've got to go, or I'll be late. Have a good day." With that, he got up and strode out the door, leaving Sarah to finish her breakfast alone.

When she was finished, she went to the garden and sat under her favorite tree (which, oddly, happened to be lavender), once again admiring the beauty of the flowers and trees.

As she sat, Sarah found herself thinking of home. She wondered what her brother had been up to. At least she didn't have to worry about whether or not her parents were worried about her; Jareth had taken care of that. Her parents wouldn't even remember her until she showed up, and then it would be as if these last few weeks hadn't happened.

As she thought of this, she thought of her time spent in the Underground—it's strange people, odd plants and animals. She was very comfortable here.

_Will I miss it when I go home?_ she asked herself.

_Yes_, she answered her own question. She knew she would miss all of this, although she knew she wanted to go home. And, loath though she was to admit it, she knew that part of that was because of Jareth.

The king had been so nice to her recently. She had noticed, though, that ever since the night he promised her that he would send her home, he had become less like himself, more withdrawn and sad. She knew that she was to blame for that; she was certain of his feelings for her by now.

_But are you certain of your __**own**__ feelings for __**him**_ A sly voice in the back of her head asked her. _Do you really hate him so much?_ She knew she didn't; far from it, actually. She wanted to kick herself for admitting anything but hatred for the goblin king, even to herself.

_What am I supposed to do? _

_

* * *

_

Jareth sat waiting in the throne room, bored already. He would much rather have been outside, sitting next to Sarah under the tree where he often found her. He waited impatiently, growing more and more bad-tempered with each passing moment. After several minutes, a goblin came into the room, escorting six other goblins. The servant bowed deeply when he stopped in front of the king.

"Your Highness," the goblin said with a high, squeaky voice that Jareth found incredibly annoying. "May I present Mr. Jaq Loius and his companions."

"About time," Jareth grumbled. "You may leave us," he added to the servant, who quickly bowed his way out of the room. Jareth focused his attention on his guests. Jaq was definitely the leader; he was not necessarily the biggest one, but he reeked of arrogance. The others around him had a dopey look about them; Jaq, at least, looked semi-intelligent. Jareth focused his attention on Jaq, ignoring the others.

"How may I help you?" he asked pleasantly. Jaq bowed to the king, the other goblins hastily following suit.

"I would first of all like to congratulate you on your success with the war," Jaq said. He spoke in a silky voice, such as one who was used to persuading people to do things for him might. "Fine work, your Highness, truly."

Jareth inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement, not willing to act like Jaq's best friend just yet. Jaq took this in stride, continuing on swiftly.

"I sought to speak with you because I have heard some, ah . . . rumors that trouble myself as well as my companions." Jareth's brow furrowed.

"Rumors?"

"The human girl. There has been some talk amongst the goblins that you," Jaq laughed, "well, that you were in love with her. And you know goblins; they don't take too kindly to other beings." He continued to chuckle slightly, as if he thought the whole thing were utterly ridiculous, but Jareth saw the warning underneath it; he was trying to discreetly remind Jareth how much trouble he would be in if it became known that he was in love with a human. Still, Jareth had never been one to lie on the ground and be walked upon.

"Yes, and as I recall, it is their discrimination that continues to get them into trouble." Jareth said, carefully monitoring his tone of voice. Jaq's eyes narrowed.

"You don't fool me for a second. You know that you're only causing trouble with this human. You would be wise to get rid of her now."

Jareth's eyebrows shot up. "Get rid of her? How do you propose I do that? I can't send her home now, not in her current condition." This was stretching the truth, but Jareth didn't like the accusations Jaq was making.

Jaq smiled coldly. "Get rid of her any way you have to." The implication was clear.

"I won't harm her," Jareth said in a steely voice. Jaq looked around him at the other goblins, who seemed surprised.

"What did I tell you boys, hm?" Jaq asked. He looked back at Jareth, who stared back rather defiantly.

"Lose the human, or you risk war. Who do you think the people will side with? And you know what'll happen to your little human afterward."

"I will do nothing of the sort." Jareth refused to look away. Jaq smiled that terrible smile again.

"Then you will face the consequences. Come, gentlemen," he said to his comrades. "We'll leave the king to think about his next action, for come morning there'll be a war on." Jaq strode out the throne room, the other goblins following in his wake. Jareth sat back in his throne, putting his head in his hands.

A servant goblin came in a few moments later, noticing Jareth. She approached the throne carefully, knowing how touchy the king was when he was frustrated or under pressure.

"Your Highness?" she asked softly. Jareth looked up into her face for a moment, then stood resolutely.

"Gather all of the goblins here, quickly. I will be back momentarily." He walked out of the throne room, out into the garden and immediately spotted Sarah, sitting under her tree. He went to her, bending down to speak closer to her ear.

"Sarah, I need you to come with me," he whispered urgently. She looked up at him, startled.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, clearly frightened. He offered her his hand and helped her to stand up.

"I need you to stay in your room for a little while; it seems we're going to war." Sarah's eyes widened at the word. She opened her mouth to speak, but Jareth cut her off.

"We may be engaged in battle as early as sunrise; I need to know that you'll be safe. Do not leave your room for any reason. Food will be brought to you," he said as he led her into the castle. Sarah stopped, resisting him when he tried to pull her along.

"Wait! What about Hoggle and Ludo? And Didymus?" she asked, frantic.

"I'll make sure they're brought here. I'll do it myself," he assured her, pulling her along again. "You promise me that you'll stay in your room?"

"But—"

"No buts! Promise me!" he said fiercely, swinging her around so that she was looking into his face. She hesitated a moment, then nodded.

"I promise."

Jareth nodded his head, then continued through the halls of the castle, not saying another word until they were just outside Sarah's bedroom.

"I don't know how long it will be before I can get you home," he said apologetically. Sarah shook her head.

"Don't worry about it," she assured him. Jareth looked at her a moment, before bringing her a little closer to him and kissing her tenderly on her forehead. He opened her door for her and pushed her towards it gently, then turned and strode down the hall to the throne room.

"Be careful," Sarah said, although Jareth could not hear her.


	12. War

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, thanks a lot for reminding me. Really appreciate that.

**CHAPTER TWELVE**: **War**

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Sarah stared out the window of her large bedroom, lost in thought. Jareth had practically shoved her into her bedroom; it made her a little uncomfortable to realize that he was that protective of her. She was even more uneasy when she realized that she was afraid for him as well.

She had been up in her room for about four hours, listening to the commotion downstairs. Sarah couldn't hear all of it, but the basic gist was that Jareth was trying to get as many goblins on his side for the upcoming war as possible. Sarah wondered how many would follow him; he certainly hadn't made any enemies in the last few weeks that she had seen. If anything, he had gained more allies with his more easygoing attitude.

The noise had long since died down; now the only sounds were the occasional goblin rushing past her room to prepare for the battle ahead. A goblin had come in to give Sarah her lunch a little while after she was barricaded in her room, reappearing every so often to inquire as to whether she needed anything. Sarah bit back the urge to request a therapist for her muddled thoughts.

As she stood staring out the window, waiting to see what would happen, she heard a knock at the door. Turning to face it, she saw it open and a goblin peek around it. Seeing Sarah, the goblin opened the door the rest of the way, revealing Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, and Ambrosious all standing behind her. Hoggle immediately went to her, hugging her tightly as though she could disappear any second if he wasn't careful.

"M'lady," Didymus said, by way of greeting. Even he looked sorrowful. He looked much better; his bruises had faded to yellow and he was walking unassisted now.

"Begging your pardon for the interruption, miss," the goblin said, "but the king said that they were to be brought up to your room instead of being shown their own."

"Thank you," Sarah said as the goblin turned to exit. She shut the door and led her friends inside, sitting on the bed and looking at Hoggle.

"What's happening?" Sarah asked. Hoggle sighed.

"Near as I can tell, we're having a war. Heard talk of it at the market yesterday, and then Jareth came to get me and said that I was to come stay with you. We got Ludo an' Didymus and came straight here. People in the streets are a mess, runnin' about and carrying weapons all over the place. It's enough t' make a guy crazy."

"Why is there a war on in the first place?" Hoggle hesitated.

Sarah scowled. "Hoggle, I deserve to know. Now tell me." Hoggle knew better than to argue with her.

"There—ahem," Hoggle cleared his throat nervously. "There's a group of goblins who—who don't agree with what Jareth is doing. They decided to rebel."

"Wait—what do you mean, what Jareth is doing? What's he doing to make the goblins angry?"

Hoggle sighed again. Time to be straightforward. "They don't like the fact that you're here. Goblin kings and mortals aren't supposed to feel for each other the way Jareth feels about you. They're afraid of a human influence in the Underground. Humans and goblins have a long history, although humans don't even realize that goblins even exist anymore. We used to coexist, you know," he informed a wide-eyed Sarah, "before the humans tried to take over completely. You lot **have** always been a greedy bunch." At the look on Sarah's face, Hoggle hastily continued. "Er . . . anyway, these goblins have been rounding up an army for awhile. I think they knew that this war was coming. Jareth isn't easily swayed."

Something about all of this still confused Sarah. "But if they hate me so much, why are they going after Jareth instead of me?"

"Jareth won't let them. Why do you think you're locked in here?"

Sarah thought for a moment; it made sense. The thought that Jareth had gone through this much trouble to protect her freaked her out a little bit; no one had ever done anything like that before. Astonished though she was, she couldn't help but feel a little warmer toward Jareth. _Wow. He does care about me, after all._ Guilt settled in her stomach. She should have been nicer.

"So what's going to happen next?" Sarah asked.

Hoggle shrugged. "Jareth's been gatherin' followers, same as the rebels. He's got a good number in his army by now. I guess they're gonna go to war pretty soon. Just when we got the goblin city put back together," he sighed, staring out the window.

"The last rebel war had been bad enough," Didymus added.

"I heard people downstairs earlier; are they still there?"

"Jareth sent them all home so they can get ready for the battle. As I understand it, they're all off to meet the rebels in a few hours."

Sarah sat back once more to absorb this information. In a few hours time she would see a real war for the first time. And the war was all because of her. Sensing her inner turmoil, Ambrosious jumped up on the bed and settled his head in her lap, making Sarah smile slightly.

"These goblins who are following Jareth don't have a problem with the fact that he's consorting with a human?"

Hoggle shrugged again. "I guess the fact that he's been unnaturally pleasant the last few weeks must have helped. And they like you. Plus, there have always been beings in the Underground to follow him; we won the last rebel war, didn' we?"

Sarah paused for a moment. "So, in other words, we're sitting ducks."

"Yup."

Sarah sighed, exasperated. She went to the window next to where Hoggle was standing, staring out at the beautiful city. She peered down and noticed that there were indeed goblins and dwarves and all sorts of other creatures and beings running about, scurrying like ants to find weapons or their friends. She noticed several people she had been acquainted with over the last several weeks: many of the servants; a few people who had spoken to her just to say hello as they walked out of the throne room, having had a meeting with the king; even the cook had abandoned his duties for the time being to prepare for the upcoming battle. It was very odd, to see all of the people she spent her days with act so outside themselves.

"Then I guess we wait," Sarah said softly, turning back to her large, comforting bed and sitting down, curling her knees under her and wrapping her arms around herself.

* * *

Jareth walked up the winding marble stairs to Sarah's bedroom, sighing slightly. Rounding up an army was no easy feat, and it wasn't exactly something that he had planned on doing twice within such a short space of time. He was exhausted.

The 'rally", for lack of a better term, had gone fairly smoothly; he had gathered people that had helped in the previous wars, as well as those who he thought might help him now. Most people he went to sided with him, although there had been several who had already been bought by the rebels. His place as king still had quite a bit of power to it; he had managed to scare many into siding with him, with the promise that they would be rewarded afterward. Many joined him without coercion.

The news that he was in love with a human had spread rather quickly as well, and he had addressed it in the speech he made as he was attempting to gather people on his side. Nothing overly dramatic, simply a statement that he thought tied his feelings on the subject in quite nicely.

Many goblins had agreed with him, and immediately told the king that they would be on his side. Some still needed a bit of persuasion. But none of them had left.

Approaching Sarah's bedroom now, he knocked at the door, softly in case she was asleep. Almost immediately the door cracked open a bit, opening all the way once Sarah saw who had knocked. Jareth took in her tired yet fearful expression, truly sorry that he had caused her to be afraid. He glanced around the room, noticing that the dog and the knight were asleep near her bed, and the large monster was near the door. The dwarf, of course, had not fallen asleep, no doubt forcing himself to stay away for Sarah's sake. He walked into the room the rest of the way, shutting the door securely behind him.

"Are you all right?" he asked Sarah, making sure to look into her eyes as she answered. She nodded, of course, although it wasn't necessary for Jareth to try to determine whether or not she was lying to him; it was obvious, and anyone would have given the same answer if they had been put in a similar situation.

"What's going on?" Sarah asked, forcing her voice not to shake.

"We go to battle in the morning."

Sarah hesitated. "Hoggle told me why this war is happening." Jareth glared at the dwarf.

"Well, she had a right to know," Hoggle retorted stubbornly, ignoring the fact that that had been the excuse Sarah had given Hoggle in order to get him to tell her in the first place.

Sarah sighed exasperatedly. "Why- Jareth, just give up! I'm not worth all this trouble."

Jareth found himself getting very angry. She wasn't worth it? She had no idea how far from the truth that was. He opened his mouth a few times, shutting it as he tried to find the words to explain exactly how he felt about that. It was hard to explain the extent of his feelings to her, especially since he was pretty sure he would just make himself sound like a ponce.

"Let me make that decision," he finally replied, thoroughly agitated. "Anyway, I just wanted to check and make sure you were well. I probably won't be around for awhile; if you need anything, there are a few servants and another cook still here who can grant any requests you may have."

Jareth turned and opened the door, walking most of the way out before poking his head back in.

"Under no circumstances are you to leave this room. Understood?"

Sarah glared at the king for a moment, debating whether or not to simply tell him to piss off and stop acting like he owned her, before deciding that this was probably another one of those situations in which she should listen instead of argue. She nodded once. The goblin king nodded in reply, striding out the door as Sarah flopped onto her bed in frustration once again.


	13. And the Battle Rages On

Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth, or any of the characters. In case you hadn't figured that one out already. Please don't sue.

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN:** And the Battle Rages On . . .

* * *

Sarah watched the war take place from her bedroom window for a week. The first battle was terrible; she could hardly watch. Hoggle, who had a stronger stomach and was more accustomed to seeing such gore, watched from the window while Sarah sat on her bed, telling her how the battle was going while leaving out the bloody details. The first day was definitely the worst; heavy casualties on both sides. Sarah dreamt about it, when she could sleep.

The battles following had been slightly better; Jareth's side, although not as well prepared, was greater in size, and Jareth was a good leader. The goblins and other creatures fighting on his side came into the castle occasionally, resting in the heavily guarded castle for a little while until they gained back their strength. Jareth made sure to check in on Sarah every now and again, making sure she had all of her limbs attached and was well fed. He never stayed for very long, a few short minutes maximum, and Sarah found herself missing the conversations she used to have with him in the garden. He had someone bring her books from the library, but she could not read them, focused as she was on the battle.

Sarah knew that the war was coming to a close, and she began to get worried; she was aware that Jareth would be out fighting, having taken the whole thing very personally indeed. She worried for his safety; she had become quite attached to him the last few weeks. She was beginning to wonder what she would do when – if – this was all over and it came time for her to leave. At least she had Hoggle, Ludo, Didymus, and Ambrosious (who had taken to sleeping with her every night, snuggled up under the covers with his head on her stomach). They were always in her room, there to reassure her or to keep her company. They had exhausted knock-knock jokes together, played countless games of 'I Spy' and even managed to find a deck of playing cards in the drawer of Sarah's nightstand, with which Sarah had taught Ludo how to play 'Go Fish'.

Now it was nighttime, and it seemed that Jareth's side had been victorious once again. The army filed into the castle, some pulling out sleeping bags and others simply dropping to the floor, desperate to get some rest, as most of the goblin city had been destroyed and none had anywhere else to go. Jareth walked up the stairs to see Sarah, as he did almost every night. He knocked on her door and was let in immediately.

"How are you?" Jareth asked Sarah, ignoring the others for the time being.

"Fine. How are we doing?"

"Very well, actually," Jareth replied. "This should be over very soon. We're going after the leaders of the other side tomorrow."

Sarah tried not to think about how dangerous that could potentially be. She already felt incredibly guilty for having been the cause of all of this. A couple hundred people were involved in a war that wouldn't have taken place if Jareth weren't infatuated with her. And all because Jareth was stubborn . . .

Jareth seemed to be able to read Sarah's mind. "Look at me," he demanded. Sarah hesitated for a moment before looking straight into the goblin king's icy eyes. She noticed for the first time just how beautiful his eyes were. _Where did that come from?_

"This is not your fault. Do you hear me?" Sarah nodded, turning away, before Jareth grabbed her by the chin and refused to let her go. Sarah finally met his eyes again.

"**Not your fault**. Don't even think that way." He let her go.

"I should be getting back; long day ahead of us." It killed Jareth every time he had to say goodbye to her like this; he was never sure if he would live to speak to her again—there had already been several occasions where he had almost lost his life in battle because he was too busy trying to save others to pay attention to people attempting to chop off his head. Best not let her know that; she was scared enough as it was.

Sarah nodded. "Be careful."

"Sweet dreams, love." Jareth turned and strode majestically out the door, leaving Sarah to crawl into her bed and attempt to get some sleep.

Downstairs, Jareth checked to make sure that everyone was situated before retiring to his own bedroom. Tomorrow, he thought, would be the last battle. And the day after that, to him at least, would be the end of the world.

Jareth woke early the next morning, as he had for the last several days, and strode to his large bedroom window, peering outside. Cloudless, sunny . . . the perfect day, except for the fact that he had a war to fight. He dressed quickly, then made his way downstairs, not pausing to stop to see Sarah. He never spoke to her in the mornings before he left; it would have been too hard to leave afterward.

He stopped in the throne room, looking at his guards in his usual way of speechlessly ordering them to watch over Sarah. They knew the rules by now—if she were to attempt to leave her bedroom, they would forcefully stop her to ensure that she did not come into harm's way. He hated doing that to her . . . but it was better than risking her getting hurt.

He continued into the large ballroom, where most of his soldiers were already ready to go, and the others were rolling up their sleeping bags or rubbing the sleep from their eyes. He could already the more experienced soldiers rounding up the others and warming them up, preparing for the upcoming battle. He thought about the battles he had fought previously; during none of them had he ever thought so much about his troops, his people who went into battle with him and fought by his side. He could say now that he was genuinely concerned about them. He supposed that being with Sarah so often, listening to the way she spoke to her friends and cared about each and every one of them before even thinking of herself, had made him think of how he acted toward those loyal to him. He knew now that the creatures standing in the halls of his castle, preparing to fight and possible be injured and die, would have his back all the way, as Sarah's friends would always protect her when she needed it. Jareth had finally earned their trust and their true respect.

Many of the creatures in the ballroom stopped and looked up at him respectfully when they saw Jareth enter the room. The king saw that many of the younger soldier's eyes shone with adoration and admiration for him. _I could get used to this._

He had always given a little pep talk right before they headed out to battle . . . but today, no pep talk seemed necessary. These soldiers all looked ready for the battle to come.

"Well. move out, then," Jareth commanded, almost softly, and everyone followed their leader out into the sunshine to meet their enemy.

Sarah sat again in front of her window, Ludo, Hoggle and Didymus surrounding her. Sarah could not help but be afraid for Jareth . . . she knew by now that some feelings had grown inside her for him. He had changed since she had come to stay at the Goblin City—he had become more human. Still . . . she wondered if he was truly capable of loving her. **Could** he love her? Was it even possible for a being such as Jareth? He might be infatuated with her now, but he would almost certainly tire of her eventually. Sarah wasn't sure . . . but after the war, she wouldn't have to worry about it; she would be free of Jareth, never having to deal with him or his manipulative little games.

_But is that what you really want?_ The annoying little voice in her head asked her slyly.

She pushed that voice away. Of course that was what she wanted . . . to be rid of Jareth and go back to the way her life had been before she had returned to the Labyrinth. To be able to go back home and see Toby and her dad would be very nice.

She also ignored the feeling in the bottom of her stomach when she thought of leaving the Goblin City.

"Do we know what's happening?" Sarah asked, her voice no higher than a whisper because of her fright and anticipation. Sir Didymus perked up his ears higher, having the best hearing.

"It sounds, fair lady," he said after a moment, "as if . . . well, as if the battle were approaching the castle." He looked up at her.

The color fled Sarah's face. If the battle were reaching the castle, which is what Jareth was hoping to prevent, then how was the battle going for their side? Was Jareth-?

_Since when did you start caring for him?_ The knowing little voice in her head asked. She ignored it again, peering outside her bedroom window in an effort to see the soldiers fighting. After a few minutes, she did see them . . . several creatures dressed in uniform, unlike the soldiers fighting for Jareth, were running toward the castle. She saw an arrow pierce the head of one of them as Jareth's troops caught up with them and attempted to stop them from getting farther. More and more troops ran toward the castle, some stopping to fight with Jareth's army to keep them distracted, and some heading straight for the castle with no intention of fighting.

Suddenly Jareth came into view, and even as far away as she was Sarah could see the determined and angry expression on the king's face as he saw what was taking place. Without any apparent thought for what might happen to his soldiers if he left, he made a mad, desperate dash for the castle, already well behind the dozen or so soldiers of the opposing side who had already gotten past the doors of the castle.

'Sarah," Hoggle said suddenly, making her jump. "Get away from that window. Over 'ere." He grabbed her arm and pulled her over across the room into the corner. "Ludo, guard that door."

Sarah looked at Hoggle quizzically. "Why did I need to come over here?"

Hoggle looked at her as though she had two heads. "What could possibly be in this castle that they want in order to win the war, the thing that Jareth treasures the most?" Sarah's eyes widened, realizing the danger that she was in.

CRASH.

Sarah looked around wildly, noticing that her door had been smashed in and there were now half a dozen soldiers in her room, fighting a struggling Ludo. One soldier looked at her and smirked, pushing up his sleeves and strode toward her, a sword held high. Sarah closed her eyes in fear.

"**NO**!" Her eyes snapped open, as she saw a tall, bleach-haired figure jump in front of her and then crumple to the floor.


	14. The Obvious

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: LAST CHAPTER!

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN:** The Obvious

* * *

Sarah awoke in the bed in her room in the castle, sitting up straight quickly and looking around her wildly. No one was with her in the room. She swung her legs over onto the floor and stood, swaying slightly before regaining her balance and opening her door, practically running into the hallway.

She saw a goblin that she recognized and stopped him in the hallway.

"What happened to Jareth?" she asked immediately, noticing that her voice shook slightly. The goblin looked up at her, regarding her for a moment. Sarah found that she was afraid of the answer, knowing that if something had happened to Jareth it would have been all her fault. She was slightly surprised at the fear, like a bucket of ice-cold water that had overtaken her.

"His Highness is still recuperating in his room. I'll take you to him." The goblin beckoned her to follow him, and they went down the hall together, past the spare rooms that Sarah was familiar with up a flight of stairs that Sarah never even knew existed. They took another rather long hallway until they reached a set of beautifully carved wooden double doors. The goblin motioned to her, and shakily Sarah opened the doors and stepped into the gorgeous bedroom inside.

She noticed that it was very much like her own room in the castle, except it was obviously much more . . . Jareth. It was all very old-fashioned, from the drapes to the furniture. And of course, Jareth himself, lying upon the bed.

"I don't foresee him waking up today, Miss," the goblin said. "Perhaps tomorrow, or so says the nurse."

"Could I sit with him?" Sarah asked softly, sorrow overcoming her. Jareth looked perfectly normal . . . but too still. She was so used to him being full of energy, always moving about and smirking at her. She had seen him napping once, in his throne, and even then he hadn't been this still. It was unnatural.

The goblin smiled at her slightly. "Of course, M'lady, I don't think His Highness would mind." He turned toward the door before stopping. "And your other friends are alright as well . . . the large one is in the infirmary, as he suffered some damage from those mongrels that attacked him in your room, but other than that everyone is fine. They went home for awhile; you've been asleep for a few hours."

Sarah nodded her thanks as the goblin left Jareth's bedroom. She walked over to the ancient-looking desk in the far corner and pulled the chair away, dragging it over to the side of Jareth's bed and sitting there, watching his face as he slept. A piece of hair was in his face; she carefully pushed it behind his ear, noting the pink scar that had been magically healed The king did not even stir. Sarah settled back in her chair.

* * *

Sarah did not know what woke her up. She groggily sat up straight, still in the chair that she had taken from the desk. It was almost completely dark outside; she must have been asleep for some time. Looking at the bed, she realized that something was missing. _Where is . . ._

Suddenly, a movement over her shoulder made her gasp. Jareth had been mere inches away from her. He backed away a bit, looking sheepish.

"Sorry about that . . . couldn't help it," he said to her. _She's so beautiful when she sleeps._

Sarah blushed a bit, knowing perfectly well that he had been watching her snooze (she hoped to God she hadn't snored . . .). She looked him over more carefully . . . he looked perfectly fine, if not a little pale.

"Been up long?" she asked. Jareth shook his head.

"Probably only about three minutes. I didn't mean to wake you." Jareth still spoke rather strangely, as thought everything were not all right with him. Sarah could sense very slightly that something was bothering him, although she knew that even if she asked he would not tell her what it was.

"How are you feeling?" She asked almost timidly. Jareth smiled his toothy grin, and Sarah relaxed slightly. This was a bit more normal.

"Never better," the king replied. "I've got to hand it to them; they fought well. But I'll be alright, just a tad disoriented." He looked absolutely fine.

Sarah looked at the ground. "I thought you were . . ."

Jareth peered at her. _Does she care about me?_ His heart skipped a beat at the notion. But of course not . . . if he had been dead how would she have gotten home? That was all she cared about . . . she could never care about someone like him, someone so cruel and heartless. He was foolish to have even thought it.

"I'm fit as a fiddle, love," he said, using the human phrase to attempt to lift her spirits. It worked; she cracked a smile and rolled her eyes. Jareth was still taken aback by how gorgeous her smile was.

Suddenly, a gurgling sound made Sarah turn crimson. Jareth grinned again.

"I'm getting the impression that you're hungry," he said, turning to open the door. "I can't say I'm not a bit peckish myself. What say we go have some dinner?" Again, Sarah noticed that his speech was even more formal than usual (which was a difficult feat to accomplish, considering what a pompous ass Jareth **usually** was.). Sarah nodded slowly, looking forward to getting something in her stomach; she hadn't eaten since the night before. Jareth held the door for her and then let her lead the way toward the large dining room downstairs.

Jareth had gone into the kitchens to alert the cooks that they would be needing food, then returned to the table where Sarah had sat waiting for him. He was afraid that things were going to be awkward, but Sarah seemed to have forgotten all about the fact that he had promised her that she could leave when the war was over. Now she eyed him peculiarly, as if he had grown another limb. He thought for a moment; he must look like he felt: pretty miserable. He forcibly changed his facial expression to one that was cockier, creating a façade that hopefully distracted Sarah from her thoughts about what could be upsetting him.

After a moment, Sarah spoke. "So what happened after I passed out?"

Jareth shook his head. "Can't say for sure; I was knocked out too, remember? We're obviously not dead, so I'd say we won," he said, chuckling slightly. "That's embarrassing though, not knowing what happened to my soldiers." The thought **did **unsettle him a bit.

He looked toward the kitchen. 'I'm afraid that we won't get a grand dinner; I assumed you were rather hungry and didn't really want to wait," he said, smirking. "It shouldn't take long to make—ah, here," he said, nodding toward the three goblins that had come out with their food.

Sarah smiled when she saw her plate—cold cuts. It was certainly more casual than any dinner she had ever eaten in the castle, but thinking about it she decided that she liked it that way. It was less intimidating.

"Thank you," she said to the female goblin that had brought her plate, who curtsied and smiled at her.

"Thank you," Jareth said to the goblin who had brought his food, making the young goblin's eyes grow round and his face turn red. He had obviously never heard Jareth the Goblin King thank **anyone**. He snapped back to his senses, hastily bowing to the king before running out of the dining room like a dog with his tail between his legs. The other male goblin who had brought the drinks shook his head disapprovingly.

"My apologies, your Highness—he's new," the goblin said, setting down the glasses and a large pitcher before bowing and walking out of the room, the she-goblin following behind him.

Sarah and Jareth were both silent for a few minutes, both focusing on eating their sandwiches (Jareth seemed just as hungry as Sarah was). After they had each eaten one and were working on a second one, Jareth sighed, making Sarah look up at him. Jareth met her eyes, hesitating a bit. _Get it over with._

"I suppose," he began, willing himself not to falter, "that you shall want to leave first thing in the morning." He continued to look at her.

Sarah, on the other hand, was confused. "What—" she began, stopping when it hit her. She was supposed to go home tomorrow. Of course—how could she have forgotten? But as she thought about it, another thought occurred to her:

She didn't **want** to leave.

_I thought I wanted to . . . why would I want to stay?_ She asked herself. She didn't even have to think about the answer. She supposed she had known it all along, although she hadn't wanted to think of it, too ashamed of herself to let the possibility be true. Jareth's sacrifice, saving her as he had, had definitely made her realize it though. No denying now. It was so obvious.

She was in love with Jareth.

She smiled a bit. She would love to stay here with Jareth, while he ruled the Underground with her at his side. She could picture it now. _What took me so long?_ It had only taken his near-death experience for her to realize it. _I'm so dim sometimes._

She realized Jareth was still staring at her. She smiled at him, trying to figure out how best to approach him.

"You love me," she said, causing Jareth to look away a bit. She saw him blush slightly, before he turned and met her eyes again, his piercing blue eyes fierce.

"Yes. I've always loved you," he said, trying not to let the fear of being rejected again show on his face. Sarah stood up, walking to him. Jareth looked up at her, eyes slightly widened.

"I love you too." And she kissed him, running her hands through his blonde hair.

Jareth's eyes stayed wide open for a moment, before he closed them and kissed her back. He broke the kiss then, gasping for breath as his heart pounded. He stood up next to her, looking down at her beautiful brown eyes.

"You mean it?" he asked her, praying to whatever God there might be that she didn't do this just to hurt him. He couldn't stand that.

Sarah nodded. "I love you, Jareth. If you would let me stay . . ." she trailed off, suddenly embarrassed. Jareth smiled at her, then gently cupped her chin and kissed her again.

"Sarah . . ." he whispered. Then he let go of her and bent on one knee, making Sarah's eyes widen. From thin air he produced a gorgeous diamond and white gold ring. He looked straight at her again. This seemed to be the right time.

"Sarah, will you please marry me?" he asked, almost begging her. A tear slipped down Sarah's cheek.

"Of course Jareth," Sarah answered. Jareth slipped the ring on her finger and stood, kissing her softly once more.

"You've made me so happy," Jareth whispered in her ear, as he held her. Sarah continued to cry a bit, joyful that this had happened to her. A thought struck her.

"What about my family? Won't they notice I'm gone . . ." Jareth looked at her, thinking.

"I could make it . . . so that they don't remember you. Except Toby, who of course you may visit any time you wish, so long as you don't get caught by your father or stepmother or any of the neighbors," he said, smiling at the look of happiness on Sarah's face when he told her she could still see her baby brother. She hugged him again.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Anything for you," he promised her, knowing perfectly well that he would give her the world on a platter if she asked for it.

Sarah yawned a bit, trying to cover it up. Jareth chuckled as Sarah looked up at him sheepishly.

"It is getting late, love. Want to call it a night?" he asked. Sarah nodded. Jareth took her hand and walked her up to her bedroom. When they got near it, Sarah slowed and bit her lower lip. Jareth turned and looked at her, confused.

"What is it, Sarah?" he asked her, worried that she had changed her mind.

Sarah stayed silent for a moment. She looked up at him shyly. "Could . . . could I stay with you tonight?" she asked him timidly, afraid of the answer. Jareth smiled, pleasantly surprised.

"Of course, my love." He led her back up to his room, where he produced pajamas like the ones he knew she had in her bedroom. Then he turned back to the door.

"Let me know when you're done," he said, leaving to give her some privacy. Sarah changed quickly, poking her head out the door to let Jareth know she was finished. Jareth went to the bed and pulled back the covers, climbing in and holding the sheets up for Sarah to follow suit. She lie down and rested her head on Jareth's shoulder as he stroked her hair.

_Sarah . . .my Sarah_, he thought. He looked down at her.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," she replied. Jareth smiled, surprised at exactly how happy hearing those words from her made him.

"Sleep now, love," Jareth said. About ten seconds later her breathing changed and he could tell she was fast asleep.

Jareth felt his eyelids growing heavier. He let himself succumb to sleep, dreaming of the changes his new life with Sarah would bring.

**THE END.**


End file.
